Podcast appearances and mentions of Jon Callas

Benjamin Wallace's new book is The Mysterious Mr. Nakamoto: A Fifteen-Year Quest to Unmask the Secret Genius Behind Crypto.   It's the greatest whodunit. Whoever created Bitcoin became the world's richest person, yet we don't know who he is. In fact, we don't even know if it's one person. There have been other cases where identities have been hidden for a while: Mysterious Whistleblowers (Deep Throat) Mysterious Authors (Ferrante, Klein, Publius) Mysterious Artists (Banksy) Mysterious Spies / Hackers (Cambridge Five, QAnon figureheads, Cicada 3301) However, nothing tops the enigma of Satoshi Nakamoto. Watch my interview with Benjamin Wallace on the WanderLearn Show: Watch the Video Interview Questions for Benjamin Wallace In 60 seconds, tell us why we should be curious about who Satoshi Nakamoto was. What's the percentage chance that Satoshi Nakamoto is more than one person? What's the percentage chance that Satoshi Nakamoto is dead? Assuming he's alive, what's the percentage chance that Satoshi Nakamoto will voluntarily reveal himself in his old age or via a dead man's switch video? Who are your top 4 candidates for Satoshi Nakamoto? If those 4 candidates are in a pie chart, how big is the 5th piece of the pie: the Someone Else slice?  Although Nakamoto's OPSEC was impeccable, is it realistic to believe that he faked his Britishisms, his double-spacing after periods, and potentially running his prose & code through a stylometry mixer because he was certain that Bitcoin would become a multi-trillion-dollar asset? What new insights have you had since you wrote the book? What's the percentage chance that we will definitively solve this mystery like we solved the Deep Throat mystery? Or will the ending be more like Forrest Fenn (e.g., a partial conclusion because we know the treasure was found and by whom, but we don't know where)?  What surprised you in your investigation? It seems you want Nakamoto to be Hal Finney, but it's hard to believe he didn't tap into the fortune when his life was on the line. And why not admit to being Nakamoto when he was on his deathbed? Perhaps to protect his family from assaults? Perhaps because he collaborated with someone else and doesn't want to unmask him. But then he could admit that he was part of the Satoshi team and leave it at that. Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? In his book, Wallace writes that any plausible Nakamoto candidate should have the following characteristics: Software tools Coding quirks Age Geography Schedule Use of English Nationality Prose style Politics Life circumstances (How had Nakamoto found the time to launch Bitcoin? Why had he left the project when he did?" Resume ("I'm not a lawyer.") Emotional range (humble, confident, testy, appreciative) Motivation to create Bitcoin Rationale, and the foresight and skill, to create a bulletproof pseudonym (Who would bother wiping a crime scene clean before it was a crime scene? Who was already that good at privacy in 2008?) Monkish capacity to renounce a fortune Although this list severely restricts who Satoshi Nakamoto could be, it still leaves countless possibilities. Wallace, who has been trying to crack this mystery for 15 years, has yet to meet a candidate who checks all the boxes. Wallace refrains from declaring that he has solved the mystery, even though countless "detectives" have already done so. He interviews people who tell him, with 100% certainty, that Satoshi Nakamoto is: Nick Szabo James A. Donald Adam Back Hal Finney Peter Todd (according to HBO) Elon Musk Numerous other options It's tempting to select what you think is the most viable candidate, throw in a heavy dose of confirmation bias, and declare, "Mystery solved, Sherlock!" Plenty have done so. It requires great restraint to resist the temptation of calling it a day, and instead, persevere pugnaciously like Wallace has in what is the greatest whodunit of the 21st century.  Many suspects seem highly implausible. Elon Musk, for example, is a bombastic self-promoter who would love to proclaim he was the genius behind Bitcoin. It's unimaginable why he would keep his mouth shut. Hal Finney was a sincere, honest, and good guy. As he said many times when he was dying of ALS, he had no reason NOT to reveal that he was Satoshi Nakamoto. Therefore, it's not him, even though it would provide a neat explanation as to why the old Satoshi Nakamoto bitcoins haven't moved.  Adam Back is plausible, although ex-cypherpunk Jon Callas says, "The primary argument against Adam Back is he couldn't keep his mouth shut." Still, an engrossing 3-part documentary argues that Nakamoto is Adam Back. Here's the final episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfcvX0P1b5g  Is Nick Szabo Satoshi Nakamoto? For several years, I believed Nick Szabo was Satoshi Nakamoto. It was an unoriginal deduction since Szabo is a popular choice among amateur Nakamoto detectives. Indeed, Szabo was one of Wallace's prime candidates for a long time. However, in his book, Wallace explains why Szabo has too many strikes against him: Szabo is a scatterbrain when it comes to projects. He doesn't focus on one thing for years. He juggles 150 balls. Nakamoto was laser-focused for 18 months. He told Jeremy Clark that Szabo "seemed to think that his bit gold was better" than Bitcoin. Clark also said Szabo is an "incoherent" presenter, whereas Nakamoto was "lucid."  Although Szabo is intensely private, he's not a complete recluse. He likes sharing ideas and getting public recognition.  Minor point: Satoshi Nakamoto wrote, "I'm not a lawyer," but Szabo is one. Although these points suggest Szabo is unlikely to be Satoshi, Szabo remains a strong Nakamoto candidate, given the absence of a perfect candidate. Besides, Clark's points are easily refuted. Just because Szabo implied Bitgold was better than Bitcoin means little. Szabo could say that to shake off people who think he's Satoshi. Or he could genuinely believe that aspects of Bitgold were superior to Bitcoin. Clark said Szabo "seemed to think..." He didn't say, "Szabo emphatically said..." Also, I listened to Szabo speak for 2.5 hours on the Tim Ferriss Show, and he sounded plenty lucid to me.  Szabo is a decent speaker. Naturally, Szabo always denies he's Satoshi. As Wallace says, denying you're not the guy proves nothing. Mark Felt was an obvious suspect for being the Deep Throat in the Watergate scandal. He denied for decades. And guess what? He was Deep Throat! Sometimes the most obvious suspect is the criminal (think O.J. Simpson). Is James A. Donald Satoshi Nakamoto? After reading The Mysterious Mr. Nakamoto, I added another suspect to my short list: James A. Donald. Satoshi Nakamoto used the rare term "hosed" a few times. Donald did so twice.  Furthermore, Donald was the first person to respond to Satoshi Nakamoto's original Bitcoin post, albeit in a critical way. He has various other attributes that Satoshi Nakamoto shares (read the book to see them all).  However, Donald is rough around the edges, whereas Satoshi Nakamoto was silky smooth, polite, and unoffensive. Again, James A. Donald is no slam dunk candidate. Nobody is. Hence, the mystery endures.  The only negative aspect about this book is that it may provide too much detail for the casual reader with limited interest in this mystery. If you're just looking for the answer, I'll tell you now: we do not know who Satoshi Nakamoto is.  For Satoshi sleuths, there is no better resource than The Mysterious Mr. Nakamoto: A Fifteen-Year Quest to Unmask the Secret Genius Behind Crypto. It delves deeper and wider than any video, article, or book about the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto. Believe me, I've gone down that rabbit hole. Why should we care who Satoshi Nakamoto is? Many argue we don't need to know who Satoshi Nakamoto is because: Knowing his identity could taint the "immaculate conception" of Bitcoin because we might learn that Satoshi Nakamoto was an asshole. We should respect Satoshi Nakamoto's right to privacy. He obviously wanted to be pseudonymous, so let him be. If Satoshi Nakamoto is alive, it would imbue him with too much power, especially over the Bitcoin protocol.  I strongly disagree with this lack of curiosity. Why? There's a chance that in the 25th century, historians will consider Bitcoin one of the top 10 inventions of all time. I'm not saying that Bitcoin will be around in the 25th century, but something like it will exist and be the global currency, and historians will link its existence to Bitcoin. In 2001, Arthur C. Clarke predicted that by 2016, "All existing currencies are abolished. A universal currency is adopted based on the 'megawatt hour.'" Eight years before Clarke's prediction, Bitcoin was created. Although Clarke was wrong about other currencies being abolished,  Bitcoin's value is loosely correlated with its energy consumption. I explain why Bitcoin is worth anything. Consider the Top 10 Inventions and Their Inventors Imagine if we didn't know who these inventors were: The Printing Press - Johannes Gutenberg (c. 1440): This invention revolutionized communication, allowing for the mass production of books and the widespread dissemination of knowledge, leading to the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution. The Electric Light Bulb - Thomas Edison (1879): While others experimented with electric lighting, Edison created a practical, long-lasting, and commercially viable incandescent light bulb, which transformed society by extending the day and enabling new industries. The Telephone - Alexander Graham Bell (1876): The telephone revolutionized long-distance communication, enabling people to speak to each other across vast distances in real time. The Steam Engine - James Watt (1778): Watt's improvements to earlier steam engines significantly increased their efficiency, powering the Industrial Revolution and leading to the mechanization of factories, transportation, and other industries. The Automobile - Karl Benz (1885): Benz is credited with creating the first practical automobile powered by an internal combustion engine, ushering in the age of personal transportation and reshaping urban and rural life. Alternating Current (AC) Electrical System - Nikola Tesla (late 1880s): While Edison championed direct current (DC), Tesla's work on AC made it possible to transmit electricity over long distances, laying the groundwork for modern electrical grids. The Airplane - Orville and Wilbur Wright (1903): The Wright brothers achieved the first successful controlled, powered flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft, fundamentally changing travel, commerce, and warfare. Penicillin - Alexander Fleming (1928): Fleming's discovery of the first antibiotic revolutionized medicine by providing a cure for many bacterial infections, saving millions of lives. The Internet / World Wide Web - Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn (Internet, 1970s) & Tim Berners-Lee (World Wide Web, 1989): These inventions created a global network of information and communication, transforming almost every aspect of modern society, from business and education to personal life. The Computer - Charles Babbage (early 19th century): Babbage's designs for the "Analytical Engine" laid the theoretical groundwork for modern computers. Later, inventors like John Atanasoff, Alan Turing, and others developed the first electronic and programmable computers. Imagine if we had no clue who invented penicillin or the telephone. Wouldn't historians do their best to figure that out, especially since they were recent and impactful inventions? Would you just shrug your shoulders and say, "Who cares? My telephone works." Sure, many wouldn't give a shit. However, for other, more curious minds, we'd like to know.  Major Inventions with Unknown Inventors Here are four major inventions whose creator is a mystery: The Wheel: The invention of the wheel is one of the most important technological advancements in human history, enabling transportation and mechanization. Archaeological evidence suggests it originated in Mesopotamia around 3500 BC, but there is no record of who first conceived of it. The challenge wasn't just creating the wheel itself, but also the wheel-and-axle system, which required precise engineering. Writing: The development of writing systems enabled the permanent storage and transmission of information, transforming human society. The earliest known writing system, cuneiform, emerged in Sumer (ancient Mesopotamia) around 3400 BC. However, like the wheel, it was likely the result of a gradual process of development by many different people, not the work of a single inventor. Fire making: Some person probably rubbed two sticks together, and the rest is history. Since we can't know who that individual was, it would still be fascinating to know where it started and if it was developed in more than one place independently, like Calculus.  Bitcoin: Yeah, it's a major invention. It's been the best-performing asset since 2010, it's worth more than any company, and Satoshi Nakamoto is the wealthiest person ever. It has sparked a multi-trillion-dollar industry in just 15 years. So, yes, it's important, and yet we don't know who created it. Verdict: 10 out of 10 stars! Admittedly, I'm a Bitcoin fan who has produced many videos and articles about the first cryptocurrency, so I'm biased. Still, if you love a perplexing mystery, you will love trying to solve this one. The good news is that we haven't solved it yet.  My Satoshi Nakamoto Fantasy There's a good chance that Satoshi Nakamoto is around my age. If so, he also has a 30-year life expectancy.  I hope that in 2050, a video appears on the Internet that shows an old man who says, "I am Satoshi Nakamoto. To prove it, I will do what no Satoshi pretender has been able to do: move the 'Satoshi' coins that have been dormant since I mined them in 2009." He records himself and his computer screen, and with a few clicks and keyboard taps, the transactions get broadcast onto the Bitcoin blockchain for all to see.    Next, he says, "I am donating my one million bitcoins to the Bitcoin Core for ongoing maintenance and to the following charities." Or perhaps he'll use the one million Bitcoins to create a Bitcoin node on the Moon. Or perhaps he will "burn" his Bitcoin, reducing the total BTC supply to 20 million coins, not 21 million. Regardless, I hope Nakamoto will finally unmask himself, just like Mark Felt (aka Deep Throat) did when he was 91 (he died at 95).  Yeah, this fantasy is unlikely, but we can dream, can't we? Connect Send me an anonymous voicemail at SpeakPipe.com/FTapon You can post comments, ask questions, and sign up for my newsletter at https://wanderlearn.com. If you like this podcast, subscribe and share!  On social media, my username is always FTapon. Connect with me on: Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram TikTok LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr   Sponsors 1. My Patrons sponsored this show! Claim your monthly reward by becoming a patron for as little as $2/month at https://Patreon.com/FTapon 2. For the best travel credit card, get one of the Chase Sapphire cards and get 75-100k bonus miles! 3. Get $5 when you sign up for Roamless, my favorite global eSIM with its unlimited hotspot & data that never expires! Use code LR32K 4. Or get 5% off when you sign up with Saily, another global eSIM with a built-in VPN & ad blocker. 5. Get 25% off when you sign up for Trusted Housesitters, a site that helps you find sitters or homes to sit in. 6. Start your podcast with my company, Podbean, and get one month free! 7. In the United States, I recommend trading cryptocurrency with Kraken.  8. Outside the USA, trade crypto with Binance and get 5% off your trading fees! 9. For backpacking gear, buy from Gossamer Gear.

The landscape of digital privacy is changing. While cloud adoption and ethical hacking create new opportunities for all, data leaks and proposed legislation introduce new levels of threat to everyone from CTOs to laypeople. But what are these threats and what danger do they pose? Fully understanding the factors that influence digital privacy is about to be vital in protecting yourself, while continuing to benefit from living in a digital age. Join More than a Refresh host, Joshua “JD” Drake, for a roundtable with Jon Callas, Director of Public Interest Technology @ Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Dan Frechtling, CEO @ Boltive, to discuss the state of digital privacy in the US and beyond.

Welcome to episode 20 of More Than a Refresh, where JD sits down with Jon Callas, Director of Public Interest Technology at Electronic Frontier Foundation. Listen in as they discuss why paper is magical, international threats to privacy and security, and the problem with never-ending emergencies. Click here to donate to EFF, and if you're looking for other ways to get involved, the EFF has this helpful page of suggestions.

Jon Callas is a computer security expert, software engineer, user experience designer, and technologist who is the co-founder and former CTO of the global encrypted communications service Silent Circle. He has held major positions at Digital Equipment Corporation, Apple, PGP, and Entrust, and is considered "one of the most respected and well-known names in the mobile security industry. His views stem from big tech's mass pooling of personal data for advertising and the polarization within Silicon Valley. While some companies are committed to privacy, many more earn their revenues from selling user data. Callas has stated that if the advertising market takes a downturn, companies that protect their users' data are the most insulated from harm. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/out-of-the-blank-podcast/support

Welcome back to Source Code, Decipher's weekly news podcast with input from our sources. This week, the White House has outlined a number of cybersecurity measures that federal agencies must adopt. Also this week, an easily exploitable vulnerability in a Linux component has been patched. Finally, Jon Callas, director of technology projects with EFF, joined the Decipher podcast this week to talk about invasive data tracking and surveillance during the pandemic.

Jon Callas, director of technology projects with EFF, talks about invasive data tracking and surveillance during the pandemic.

Younger Kids Next In Line For COVID-19 Vaccines This week, an FDA advisory panel voted unanimously to recommend that the COVID-19 vaccine made by Pfizer vaccine be approved for children as young as 5. If the FDA concurs and the CDC agrees, lower-dose Pfizer vaccinations could soon be available for children ages 5 to 11, via local pediatricians. Just who will be immediately eligible for the doses, and how vaccinating young children might affect school mask policies and other restrictions, remains to be seen. Umair Irfan, staff writer at Vox, joins Sophie Bushwick to talk about the news and other stories from the week in science, including potential COVID-related criminal charges against Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro, an experimental bionic vision implant, and the possible discovery of an exoplanet in the galaxy Messier 51.   Could Ordinary Household Objects Be Used To Spy On You? In the movies, if a room is bugged, the microphone might be hidden in a potted plant. But in recent years, researchers have come up with ways to use the trembling leaves of a potted plant, light glancing off a potato chip bag, and even tiny jiggles in the head of a spinning hard drive caused by a nearby conversation to be able to listen to what's happening in a room, or to gain information about what's going on nearby. On a larger scale, other researchers have been able to use the vibrations of an entire building to paint a picture of movements within it—and even the health status of the people inside. The approach is known as a side-channel attack: Rather than observing something directly, you're extracting information from something else that has a relationship with the target. Many of the approaches are not straightforward—they require an understanding of the physics involved, and sometimes heavy data-processing or machine learning to interpret the hazy information yielded by these techniques. Jon Callas of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Hae Young Noh of Stanford, and Kevin Fu of the University of Michigan join host Sophie Bushwick to talk about the risks and opportunities afforded by these sneaky methods of surveillance, and how concerned you should be.   A Maggot Revolution In Modern Medicine In a bloody battle during World War I, two wounded soldiers were stranded on the battlefield in France, hidden and overlooked under some brush. Suffering femur fractures and flesh wounds around their scrotum and abdomen, they lay abandoned without water, food, or shelter for a whole week. At the time, outcomes for these kinds of wounds were poor: Patients with compound femur fractures had a 75 to 80% mortality rate. By the time the soldiers were rescued and brought to a hospital base, orthopedic surgeon William Baer expected their wounds to be festering, and their conditions fatal. But much to his surprise, neither showed any signs of fever, septicaemia, or blood poisoning. When his team removed the soldiers' clothing, they discovered that their flesh wounds were filled with thousands of maggots, or baby flies—little larvae with a massive appetite for decaying matter. Baer was repulsed by the sight, and the team quickly washed off the wriggling maggots. Underneath, instead of the expected pus and bacteria-infected flesh, Baer marveled over “the most remarkable picture.” “These wounds were filled with the most beautiful pink granulation tissue that one could imagine,” Baer later wrote in a 1931 report in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. Maggots have long been associated with death, but in this case, they were helping the soldiers stay alive. As these insects were simply tucking in for their typical meal of dead, decaying flesh, they were inadvertently aiding the soldiers by cleaning their wounds, keeping infection at bay. The soldiers recovered—saved by their tiny, wriggling “friends which had been doing such noble work,” Baer wrote. Baer's paper is one of the first reports of maggots used in medicine, but these insects have been found healing wounds for thousands of years, with references in the Old Testament and in ancient cultures of New South Wales and Northern Myanmar. Read the rest on sciencefriday.com.

Encryption, Business’s Moral Dilemma, and Diversity Rubric: Jon Callas talks about his long and illustrious career, offers unusual advice on how to address the diversity and the skills gap, discusses the advantages of encryption, and is positive about the protection of privacy, believing the future lies in proper policy, regulation, legislation, and consumer activism. 01:09 […]

Jon Callas is a computer security expert, software engineer, user experience designer, and technologist. This week, Callas and Clarke talk about the early days of encryption, where Callas was a major contributor to the field as a co-founder of Pretty Good Privacy software. They discuss government forays into surveillance, like using the clipper chip to secure voice and data messages, as well as the FBI’s attempt to pressure Apple to create software access to iPhones following the San Bernardino terrorist attack. They also discuss the rise in surveillance through facial recognition technology, including Taylor Swift’s security team tracking down stalkers through mass facial recognition at concerts. Overall, they get into the details about the growing capabilities of surveillance state and need for better policies for maintaining privacy under gaze of government surveillance. And the need for more rules and regulations to keep from losing privacy through “a death of a Thousand Cuts.” Twitter: @joncallashttps://www.aclu.org/report/dawn-robot-surveillanceWebsite: FutureStatePodcast.comTwitter: @richardclarkeInstagram: @futurestate

Jon Callas has been at the forefront of computer security issues for a long time, most recently as the head of Apple's team of internal hackers that try to break into the company's own products. But just a couple of months ago, he made a change, and left Apple to work on tech policy at the ACLU. This week, he joins us on the podcast to discuss the new job, computer security policy, and the latest phase of the crypto-wars.

Paul discusses on this Security News segment, Jeremiah Grossman, Apple hires crypto-wizard Jon Callas to beef up security, Google To Kill Passwords On Android, and a ton more from our other guests! Here on Security News!

This week on Security Weekly, we interview Wade Baker, Vice President of ThreatConnect! Paul, Jack, Jeff, and Larry address listener feedback and questions. Paul discusses, Jeremiah Grossman, Apple hiring crypto-wizard Jon Callas to beef up security, Google killing passwords on Android, and lots more in Security News.

Paul discusses on this Security News segment, Jeremiah Grossman, Apple hires crypto-wizard Jon Callas to beef up security, Google To Kill Passwords On Android, and a ton more from our other guests! Here on Security News.  

In this episode... Jon Callas gives a little of his background and his current role We talk through why cryptography is so hard, and so broken today Jon overviews compatibility, audit and making cryptography useful Jon brings up open source, security, and why "open is more secure" is bunk We talk through "barn builders" vs. "barn kickers" and why security isn't improving We talk through how to do privacy, active vs. passive surveillance We talk through anonymous VPN providers, anonymization services, and how they're legally bound Jon talks about appropriate threat modeling and knowing what we're protecting We talk through patching -- how to do patching for Joe Average User Bonus-- Mobile is as secure (or more) than what we're used to on the desktop Guest Jon Callas ( @JonCallas ) - Jon Callas is an American computer security expert, software engineer, user experience designer, and technologist who is the co-founder and CTO of the global encrypted communications service Silent Circle. He has held major positions at Digital Equipment Corporation, Apple, PGP, and Entrust, and is considered “one of the most respected and well-known names in the mobile security industry.” Callas is credited with creating several Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standards, including OpenPGP, DKIM, and ZRTP, which he wrote. Prior to his work at Entrust, he was Chief Technical Officer and co-founder of PGP Corporation and the former Chief Technical Officer of Entrust.

Panel: Ephemeral Communications: Why and How? Ryan Lackey Founder, CryptoSeal, Inc. Jon Callas Silent Circle Elissa Shevinsky Glimpse Possibly more to come..... Ephemeral communications applications are increasingly popular ways, especially among younger users, to communicate online. In contrast to “once it’s on the Internet, it’s forever”, these applications promise to delete information rapidly, or to maintain anonymity indefinitely, lowering inhibitions to share sensitive or personal content. There are several types of these applications, as well as ephemeral or anonymous publication use of mainstream tools, with unique security features and general utility. Key people from the major ephemeral applications will debate where the market is, where it’s going, and how these systems can best balance user desires with technical and legal requirements. Ryan Lackey, Founder of CryptoSeal, founded HavenCo, the world’s first offshore datahaven, and has worked as a defense contractor in Iraq and Afghanistan, at various technology startups, and is currently working on a secure hardware-based router for business travelers. Jon Callas, CTO of SilentCircle, is co-founder of PGP Corporation and Silent Circle. Elissa Shevinsky, Founder of Glimpse.

Traffic analysis is gathering information about parties not by analyzing the content of their communications, but through the metadata of those communications. It is not a single technique, but a family of techniques that are powerful and hard to defend against. Traffic analysis is also one of the least studied and least well understood techniques in the hacking repertoire. Listen to experts in information security discuss what we know and what we don't.

Traffic analysis is gathering information about parties not by analyzing the content of their communications, but through the metadata of those communications. It is not a single technique, but a family of techniques that are powerful and hard to defend against. Traffic analysis is also one of the least studied and least well understood techniques in the hacking repertoire. Listen to experts in information security discuss what we know and what we don't.