[Cryptography] RIP George Davida, veteran of the original crypto wars

[Tony Patti]

Peter, thank you for sharing the sad news. George Davida's passing is a
significant loss for the community.

Having published cryptographic software [1] during the first crypto war, I
view George Davida as having built the foundational "tier of the wall of
protection" in the context of "discovery" (i.e. "the act of RESEARCH")
(fighting against Patent Secrecy and the Invention Secrecy Act of 1951).  He
is also mentioned twice in NSA's book [2].

Then Hellman/Meyer [3] protected "the act of DISCUSSION" (Symposiums).

And Zimmermann [4] protected "the act of DISTRIBUTION" (Internet software).

It was on that strong foundation, that (a decade after Davida) the two
Bernstein Decisions [5] and [6] expanded that to "the act of PUBLICATION",
establishing the constitutional premise that "Code = Speech".

Tony Patti

[1] Cryptosystems Journal https://www.cryptosystemsjournal.com/ 
[2] NSA "American Cryptology during the Cold War, 1945-1989" see PDF pages
246 and 247 at
https://www.nsa.gov/portals/75/documents/news-features/declassified-document
s/cryptologic-histories/cold_war_iii.pdf 
[3] https://cryptome.org/0001/nsa-meyer.htm 
[4] https://www.philzimmermann.com/EN/background/index.html and
https://www.philzimmermann.com/EN/news/PRZ_case_dropped.html 
[5] Bernstein 1 Decision at
https://www.cryptosystemsjournal.com/pdf/CSJ-V4-300dpi-color.pdf#page=122
[6] Bernstein 2 Decision at
https://www.cryptosystemsjournal.com/pdf/CSJ-V4-300dpi-color.pdf#page=154 


-----Original Message-----
From: cryptography
<cryptography-bounces+crypto=glassblower.info at metzdowd.com> On Behalf Of
Peter Gutmann via cryptography
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2026 6:07 AM
To: cryptography at metzdowd.com
Subject: [Cryptography] RIP George Davida, veteran of the original crypto
wars

As part of an off-list discussion about the history of DES, I looked up
George Davida who was a veteran of the original crypto wars in the late
1970s and found out that he passed away a few months ago:

  https://www.feerickfuneralhome.com/obituary/george-davida-phd

  He diligently fought for citizens' rights to privacy and personal data
  encryption by battling the NSA in 1980, while raising public awareness of
  the importance of cryptography.  His win ushered in our everyday ability
to
  use online banking, send private emails, phone calls, or messages, and
other
  uses of electronic security and online applications.

If you have access to it, Cryptologia published his dissent against crypto
restrictions in 1981:

  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0161-118191855940

Peter.
_______________________________________________
The cryptography mailing list
cryptography at metzdowd.com
https://www.metzdowd.com/mailman/listinfo/cryptography