One-Time Pod

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One-Time Pod explores the history of cryptography through episodes produced by students in Derek Bruff's first-year writing seminar at Vanderbilt University. Each episode considers a different code or cipher, how it works, and why it's interesting. The title is a play on the term "one-time pad," a…

Derek Bruff


    • Aug 12, 2021 LATEST EPISODE
    • infrequent NEW EPISODES
    • 10m AVG DURATION
    • 52 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from One-Time Pod

    Episode 48 - The Right to Be Forgotten

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 12, 2021 9:18


    Should people have the right to have their personal data deleted from databases and websites?

    Episode 47 - PRISM

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 11, 2021 11:26


    After Edward Snowden's revelations about the NSA's surveillance programs, how can Americans trust their government again?

    Episode 46 - USA PATRIOT Act

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 10, 2021 10:15


    Did the US government create a surveillance state in its response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks?

    Episode 45 - The Fourth Amendment

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 9, 2021 10:01


    Can the US Constitution keep up with changing surveillance technology?

    Episode 44 - P vs. NP

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 8, 2021 9:50


    What might happen if all modern encryption techniques are rendered useless?

    Episode 43 - Cicada 3301

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 7, 2021 19:33


    Who is behind one of the internet's most intricate and mysterious scavenger hunts?

    Episode 42 - The Border Exception

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 6, 2021 10:36


    Why are privacy rules for people entering the US so different from the rules that apply within the US?

    Episode 41 - Facial Recognition

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 5, 2021 11:05


    What happens if facial recognition technology is used to exert government power?

    Episode 40 - Gait Recognition

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 4, 2021 8:29


    How might our lives change when we can be identified just by the way that we walk?

    Episode 39 - The Crypto Wars

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 3, 2021 11:55


    How much privacy does the American public deserve?

    Episode 38 - Carpenter v. United States

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 2, 2021 10:54


    Is it legal for police to track suspected criminals using location data from their cellphone providers?

    Episode 37 - TikTok

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 1, 2021 9:51


    Should users of apps like TikTok fear that their data may fall into the wrong hands?

    Season 4 Introduction

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 29, 2021 3:24


    Welcome to Season 4 of One-Time Pod. Each student-produced episode tells a story from the recent history of cryptography, one that explores the role of encryption in the world today.

    one time pod
    Episode 36 - Musical Cryptography

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 19, 2019 11:43


    How can you hide a message in a piece of music? Today on One-Time Pod, Audrey explores musical steganography, with examples from classical to trance.

    Episode 35 - The Lorenz Cipher

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 2019 9:28


    Sure, breaking the Enigma was hard. But breaking the Lorenz cipher? Without having even seen a Lorenz machine? That’s impressive. Spencer takes us to Bletchley Park in today’s One-Time Pod.

    Episode 34 - The McCormick Cipher

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 17, 2019 10:57


    His death was mysterious enough. But when encrypted messages were found on his body, things got weird. Chandu explores the McCormick cipher on today’s One-Time Pod.

    Episode 33 - Jefferson's Wheel Cipher

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 16, 2019 11:26


    Thomas Jefferson… diplomat, politician, and cryptographer? On today’s One-Time Pod, Stella hops in her time machine to talk with a founding father about his little known cipher machine.

    Episode 32 - W. B. Tyler

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 13, 2019 10:09


    It took 150 years, but a cipher challenge posed by none other than Edgar Allen Poe was finally solved. Who was W. B. Tyler and why were his cryptograms so hard to crack? Wayne explores the mystery of Tyler’s cryptograms on today’s One-Time Pod.

    edgar allen poe one time pod
    Episode 31 - The Unabomber Ciphers

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 12, 2019 9:37


    Twenty years after the Unabomber’s arrest, the FBI published his encrypted journals. Kellia steps into the mind of a killer on today’s One-Time Pod.

    Episode 30 - Hieroglyphics

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 11, 2019 9:33


    In today’s One-Time Pod, Daniel explores the parallels between breaking codes and uncovering a lost language.

    hieroglyphics one time pod
    Episode 29 - Hash Functions

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 10, 2019 11:02


    In today’s One-Time Pod, Max dives into the history of hash functions, exploring how cybersecurity tries to stay ahead of hackers.

    functions hash one time pod
    Episode 28 - Lucifer

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 9, 2019 13:49


    How to keep US secrets safe? Maybe make a deal with the devil… or at least a little start-up called IBM. Shivam explores the history of Lucifer (and the Data Encryption Standard) on today’s One-Time Pod.

    ibm lucifer shivam one time pod
    Episode 27 - Numbers Stations

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 6, 2019 10:07


    “You can’t be afraid of spies, just like you can’t be afraid of flies. Because they’re everywhere.” Hannah tackles the mystery of numbers stations in the latest One-Time Pod.

    numbers stations one time pod
    Episode 26 - Operation Vula

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 5, 2019 10:59


    Secret messages encoded using telephone touch-tones, passed between anti-apartheid activists in London and South Africa? Miles shares Operation Vula, a little-known 1980s crypto story, in today’s One-Time Pod.

    Episode 25 - The Ave Maria Cipher

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 4, 2019 10:00


    Any sufficiently advanced cryptography is indistinguishable from magic. At least, that’s what Johannes Trithemius, 16th century German monk, found out. The hard way.

    Season 3 Introduction

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 3, 2019 2:17


    Welcome to Season 3 of One-Time Pod, a podcast on the history of cryptography produced by students in Derek Bruff's first-year writing seminar at Vanderbilt University. Each episode considers a different code or cipher, how it works, and why it's interesting.

    Episode 24 - The Panizzardi Telegram

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 12, 2018 14:46


    Charlie tells the tale of the Dreyfus affair, a contentious moment in French history that illustrates the unintended effects of enciphering messages.

    Episode 23 - The Voynich Manuscript

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 11, 2018 10:44


    Jojo explores the mystery of the Voynich manuscript, a 15th century text filled with mystical images and written in an unknown alphabet.

    Episode 22 - The Culper Ring

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 10, 2018 11:22


    Jerry shares the history and codes of America's first intelligence agency, the Culper Ring.

    Episode 21 - The D-Day Carrier Pigeon Cipher

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 7, 2018 10:55


    Adrian offers a different take on the coded message attached to the leg of a carrier pigeon found in a chimney 70 years after World War Two.

    Episode 20 - The Copiale Cipher

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 6, 2018 12:51


    Arnie unveils the mystery of the Copiale cipher and the secret society rituals it hid for hundreds of years.

    Episode 19 - Typex

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 5, 2018 10:52


    Kyle shares the story of the UK's answer to the German Enigma machine: Typex. Spoiler: Unlike Enigma, Typex was never cracked.

    Episode 18 - The Dancing Men

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 4, 2018 10:09


    Leah matches wits with Sherlock Holmes over the mysterious cipher in the "The Adventures of the Dancing Men."

    Episode 17 - The Fanqie Code

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 3, 2018 14:59


    Elton Song describes the Fanquie code, a Chinese cipher that works with sounds instead of letters.

    Episode 16 - Invisible Ink

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 30, 2018 10:29


    Kolapo Dairo dives into the history of invisible ink, used for centuries to hide messages.

    Episode 15 - The Somerton Man

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 29, 2018 10:06


    Colin Snell tells a tale about a dead man found in 1948 on Somerton Beach in Australia whose pockets contained a mysterious encoded message.

    Episode 14 - The VIC Cipher

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 28, 2018 12:56


    Xinyi Zhang tells the story of a boy who found a hollow nickel and the encrypted message, sent by Russian spies, hidden inside.

    Episode 13 - The D-Day Carrier Pigeon Cipher

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2018 14:57


    Carson McRae shares the story of a World War Two carrier pigeon found 70 years later in the chimney of a home in England with an encrypted message still attached to its leg.

    Season 2 Introduction

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 26, 2018 2:25


    Welcome to Season 2 of One-Time Pod, a podcast on the history of cryptography produced by students in Derek Bruff's first-year writing seminar at Vanderbilt University. Each episode considers a different code or cipher, how it works, and why it's interesting.

    Episode 12 - The Baconian Cipher

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 4, 2017 13:40


    Maria Sellers examines the claim that Francis Bacon wrote the works of William Shakespeare, signing his name to them in code.

    Episode 11 - Knitting Codes

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 1, 2017 11:53


    Sandra Shaw shares the stories of female agents who knitted in code to share messages from behind enemy lines during World War Two.

    Episode 10 - The Playfair Cipher

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 29, 2017 11:10


    Alex Young explains the Playfair cipher, invented in 1854 by Charles Wheatstone.

    Episode 9 - Finnegan's Wake

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2017 10:11


    Romy Pein takes a philosophical approach to cryptography with a look at possible secret messages in James Joyce's novel Finnegan's Wake.

    Episode 8 - Purple

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 24, 2017 12:34


    Rachael Osman shares the story of Purple, a Japanese cipher machine used during World War Two.

    Episode 7 - The Zodiac Ciphers

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 22, 2017 16:37


    Jackson Kelley provides another take on the unsolved ciphers left by the Zodiac serial killer.

    Episode 6 - The Buzzard

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 20, 2017 15:36


    Shalin Naik tells the story of Olivier Levasseur, a French pirate known as the Buzzard, whose final message hides the location of millions in treasure.

    Episode 5 - The Pigpen Cipher

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 17, 2017 8:40


    Ejhazz Milford explains the pigpen cipher and its use across generations in keeping secrets.

    Episode 4 - The Copiale Cipher

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 15, 2017 11:18


    Sharjeel Khan pulls back the curtain on the Copiale cipher and the secret society that created it.

    cipher copiale
    Episode 3 - Sir George Scovell

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 13, 2017 8:52


    Safwaan Khan relates the story of British codebreaker George Scovell and his role in breaking the Great Paris Cipher.

    Episode 2 - The Dorabella Cipher

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 10, 2017 11:27


    Junhao Cai shares the story of the Dorabella cipher, an unsolved mystery left by English compose Edward Elgar.

    Episode 1 - The Zodiac Ciphers

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 8, 2017 11:37


    Kelsey Brown explores the mystery of the Zodiac ciphers, unsolved mysteries left by the infamous serial killer.

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