This case file documents an effort to integrate end-to-end encryption into ActivityPub, the distributed social network protocol, by mapping Messaging Layer Security (MLS RFC9420) onto the existing standard as an extension. The central tension is balancing security robustness with implementability simplicity, requiring the authors to examine user interfaces across messaging platforms and architectural variations before recommending a design approach for E2EE in federated social networks.
This paper explains cryptographic hashing as a fundamental building block of digital infrastructure, defining hash functions as one-way operations that deterministically map arbitrary-sized inputs to fixed-sized outputs while revealing no information about the input. The authors emphasize key properties including collision resistance and the practical irreversibility of hashing, distinguishing it from encryption.
Mario Havel, Tim Beiko
This foundational paper traces the historical development of cryptography from Caesar ciphers to modern encryption techniques, establishing symmetric-key encryption as a core design principle where a shared key enables both encryption and decryption of messages. The authors situate cryptographic methods as essential infrastructure for secure communication protocols, with examples ranging from wartime military applications to contemporary computational systems.
Mario Havel, Tim Beiko
Nicolás Madoery presents 'divergent protocols' as a counter-model to standard protocols that converge toward homogenization, arguing that AI and robotics now function as infrastructure (not tools) through which culture becomes 'liquid' and infinitely re-versioned. Drawing on examples like AI-generated Argentine folklore, a dancing folk robot, and his PIACH framework for cultural organizations, he proposes protocols that preserve diversity by naming what is lost, keeping source names, and leaving room for noise rather than optimizing transmission.
Nicolás Madoery