The Term Paper
Math 65S, Cryptography and Society
Fall 2004
General: You are free to choose any topic related to cryptography. The
paper should have a strong connection with cryptography and consider, in depth,
at least one of the legal, ethical, social, historical or political aspects of
the subject. It should be be 12 pages of text, (12 point, double spaced), or 8
pages (again, 12 point, double spaced) for a heavily mathematical paper. You
may include diagrams and images, but they do not count towards the length,
unless you choose a heavily mathematical topic. The paper should be focused and
well reasoned. Spelling, grammar, style, organization, and punctuation are all
important. You are strongly advised to discuss your choice of topic with me before embarking on the project.
All sources (books, articles, web pages, images) should be properly cited,
either in footnotes or a bibliography. I expect you to go well beyond the texts (and class discussions, if applicable)
and to use the library. Web references are acceptable, but you are responsible for
their accuracy. If you have any question about the reliability of a source
you should consult with me.
Deadlines:
- Paper proposal: Friday, September 24.
- Outline: Friday, October 15
- First draft: Friday, November 5
- Final draft: Wednessday, November 24
The proposal should be several paragraphs and include some key references. The
outline should be about 4 pages (12pt, double spaced), and sketch the main
ideas behind the proposed paper. It should contain several significant
references. Style is not so important at this stage, but you should pay
attention to spelling and grammar.
Some Suggested Topics:
These are rather broad and will need to be refined. An (M) indicates that the
topic has significant mathematical content.
- Cryptography in World War II (excluding Enigma)
- Export controls on cryptography
- Protection of intellectual property, fair use
- Digital Millennium Copyright Act
- The needs of Law enforcement versus privacy
- Encryption, national defense and terrorism
- First amendment issues
- Encryption and identification --- (National) ID cards and privacy
issues
- Privacy of medical records
- Anonymous commerce --- digital cash
- Digital watermarking and surrounding legal issues
- Electronic voting
- Carnivore, Echelon and Internet privacy
- Privacy and key escrow
- Security and privacy in e-commerce
- Encryption and patents
- The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), DES, and Rijndael
- Public key infrastructure
- Decipherment of ancient languages
- Hashing and MD5 (M)
- Database security and the Chinese remainder theorem (M)
- Discrete logarithm problem (M)
- The mathematics of Enigma (beyond what was done in class) (M)
Grading:
The first draft will account for 25% of the grade of the paper. You should
therefore spend considerable effort on it.
Citation and Plagiarism:
Plagiarism is a violation of the University Honor Code. You need to pay
particular attention not to commit it. I suggest that you consult the web pages
(links below) from the Duke Library Guide to Research and the Center for
Teaching and Learning on plagiarism.
Return to:
William Pardon *
Duke Mathematics Department *
Duke University