If you ve ever made a secure purchase with your credit card over the Internet then you have seen cryptography or crypto in action. From Stephen Levy--the author who made hackers a household word--comes this account of a revolution that is already affecting every citizen in the twenty-first century. Crypto tells the inside story of how a group of crypto rebels —nerds and visionaries turned freedom fighters—teamed up with corporate interests to beat Big Brother and ensure our privacy on the Internet. Levy s history of one of the most controversial and important topics of the digital age reads like the best futuristic fiction.