Information, Intelligence, Cryptanalysis, and Responsibility: From Mary, Queen of Scots, to Edward Snowden

Duncan Buell Information has always been of value to governments, and governments have always tried to protect their own information and obtain that of other governments. In the Internet age, it is increasingly the case that not just government but also individual information—telephone, email, healthcare, and purchasing records--is available in a “public” sense to those organizations that have access to the communications infrastructure of the planet. There is a very legitimate need for citizens to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures. There is also a very legitimate need for the government to provide for the common defense. What we will hope to provide is a discussion of how simplistic and superficial reports are usually not enough to enable citizens to come to useful conclusions about what our national policy needs to be. We will offer no solutions and no silver bullets. But ultimately, we in this democracy are responsible for our government, and we must make not just decisions but informed decisions. These can be harder to come by when the underlying information is intentionally (and perhaps sometimes legitimately) obfuscated. Duncan Buell is a computer scientist in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at USC, where he has served as department chair and interim dean. He has published research in number theory, parallel computation, information retrieval, and digital humanities. Prior to coming to USC as department chair in 2000, he was employed by the Institute for Defense Analyses in Maryland, conducting high performance computing and computational mathematics research in support of the National Security Agency. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has been since 1969 a member of the American Civil Liberties Union. Part of the USC Last Lecture Series. More information.