I really hate that crypto currency enthusiasts are tring to hijack the word "crypto" for their ventures when they are actually only operating in a very narrow field of cryptography.
Don't let this speak infest HN, please.
Don't let this speak infest HN, please.
If you want "crypto" to be used for something else, you have to make that something else. Crypto communication, crypto news, etc. If "crypto currency" is the only common term to start with "crypto" that most people know about, it's going to be shortened, and represent that one thing.
Crypto currency is more top-of-mind to the population at large, than cryptography as a general category. If there are more specific implementations of useful crypto that average people use as a product (like currency, not, say, SSL), then crypto will be detached from the concepts and come to represent all of them (cryptography) again.
Not all trends and language changes are good. N-word was trending once too, to give an extreme example.
Except that encryption is rarely used explicitly. We see this greed padlock, maybe. But encryption is rarely a product. It's part of other products (web browsers, messengers…).
I doubt cryptography will become more visible through that venue. People need some level of education to even notice they're using encryption, signatures, and certificates pretty much all the time.
I'm actually starting to believe that the increasing popularity of cryptocurrencies will forever seal the fate of encryption backdoors and any such ideas from politicians/law enforcement. No one will dare to make such comments 10 years from now, if 30% of the U.S. economy will be based on encryption-using cryptocurrencies.
What definition of encryption do you use that doesn't fit this process?
Bytheway definition of encryption: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encryption
The word "crypto" is too important to be lost this way. Any ideas how we can get people to knock this off?
All I can come up with is to consistently interpret it as cryptography and force people to reexplain themselves if they say nonsense.
Please change the title mods