Conversation: Whifield Diffie and Jay Graber
This interview series invites internet pioneers to reflect on the first wave of decentralization: What choices drove the adoption of web technologies and cultivated a vibrant internet culture? What false assumptions allowed the platform centralization and structural injustices of today’s web? With the opportunity to re-decentralize, how can we ensure this process advances inclusivity, equity, and sustainability?
Jay is a software developer with an interest in privacy and decentralization tech.
Videos from the summit:
Whitfield Diffie is one of the world’s preeminent cryptographers and a co-creator of Public Key Encryption. Currently, Diffie is Chief Scientist at Cryptic Labs, an innovative research lab primarily focused on solving fundamental problems to advance the viability and growth of the Blockchain.
A mathematician, computer scientist and author, Whitfield is winner of the 2015 Turing Award, often referred to as the Nobel Prize of Computing. Among his other honors, Whitfield is also an elected Foreign Member of the Royal Society, a IEEE Hamming Medal winner, winner of the Franklin Institute’s Louis E Levy medal, a Fellow of the Computer History Museum and a Marconi Foundation Fellow.
Whitfield received a B.S. in Mathematics from M.I.T. He also holds both an honorary doctorate from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and a Degree of Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) from Royal Holloway, University of London.
Whitfield is also the co-author with Prof. Susan Landau, of the University of Massachusetts, of the book ‘Privacy on the Line: The politics of wiretapping and encryption’, which has won the Donald McGannon Award for Social and Ethical Relevance in Communications Policy Research and the IEEE-USA award for Distinguished Literary Contributions Furthering Public Understanding of the Profession.