Papers by Robert Pantalone
Sentio, 2019
This paper considers the political implications of the public-key cryptosystems which secure comm... more This paper considers the political implications of the public-key cryptosystems which secure communication over popular messaging programs such as WhatsApp, and underwrite the blockchain infrastructures of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. While the distribution of privacy and security through access to cryptography has been a salient topic in academic and public discourse, less has been written about cryptographic mechanisms themselves. Public-key cryptography makes use of a mathematical concept called the one-way function. One-way functions are assumed to be easy to compute in one direction, but difficult to reverse. However, one-way functions have an unusual relationship to validity: they rely on conjectures about computing which have not been proven. This property is considered in relationship to Michel Foucault's concept of the unthought to suggest that it reflects the condition of the modern episteme. This takes on a political dimension in the uncertain conditions of cryptographic design, where national security interests often lead to the restriction of research. Furthermore, cryptographers must design systems which are resistant to both external adversaries as well as malicious users. Cryptosystems must therefore be designed against the users who they nominally protect. The confluence of epistemic uncertainty and practical insecurity makes distrust endemic in cryptographic research. This outlook enacts a logic of suspicion at the level of its design; as applications based on cryptography attain wider circulation, this will have increasing social effects.
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Papers by Robert Pantalone