Executive Decision
This is chapter 4 of The Matriarchy, a serial fiction novel on FITK

âMembers of the board: Data interception is nothing new. The role of Alan Turing and the Enigma machine during World War II, as well as its effect on the warâs outcome, is well known. The modern equivalent of this program, Thinthread, existed well before 9/11. The metadata collected by it pinpoints your actions to an astonishing degree. After 9/11, the privacy protections for US citizens and corporations were eliminated through the Prism program. At first, private call records from all the countries phone systems were routed through the NSA. Later on, calls were routinely wiretapped. Then emails were read with impunity. Elements within the government strove to obtain significant amounts of this information: for analyzing trends, winning government contracts, sizing up competitionâvirtually all aspects of the business dynamic. Its reach is nearly universal, including the people in this room. As we have seen, changes in the administration have only had negative effects. Iâm not a constitutional lawyer, I have no opinion on this situation. The legality of these actions is beside the point. What is important is that there should be no reason why routine business communications are exposed to the scrutiny of outsiders in this manner.â
Mary Robinson, president of Applied Diffusion Research, was delivering her final argument for the sale of ADRâs cryptology services to a boardroom of Amasales executives. Sean and a trio of lawyers sat behind Mary.
âThis is where the ADR system comes into the picture. The huge torrent of information on the modern internet is a potential vehicle for distributing diffuse streams of data in videos, websites, raw data files; your communications can be incorporated into them a way which is impervious to brute force cryptology as well as concealing the originatorsâ and receiversâ identities. Youâve worked with us in the past. Our record of âNo trace left behindâ in the surveillance and communication fields is unparalleled. The modern reality is that no standard communication, encrypted or not, is safe. As per our initial agreement to demonstrate our capabilities, we have prepared for each of you a sealed manila envelope containing your respective personal communications for the last month. Normally, we wouldnât make a hard copyâno paper trail, of course. These kinds of reports would be accessed by our system and only decoded on a âneed to knowâ basis. All the information contained in these envelopes is readily available to governments, hackers or other âinterested partiesâ, i.e., your competitors. Our cryptology services will prevent this type of âdata mining.â Any questions?â
The room was filled with the sound of rustling envelopes. Sean scanned the faces of the corporate officials as each one opened his personal envelope and leafed through the printouts. Amasalesâ CEO was impassive, but his face and ears reddened considerably. Mary, still standing, maintained her âserene warriorâ pose. Finally, the CEO spoke:
âItâs obvious that weâve been throwing our money away on security, but what prevents you from using your system to sell our information to competitors?â
âOnce it has been installed, the actual contents of the encrypted files in the ADR system are opaque to us. Its operation is nearly fully automatic. Our operators only need to update the âdialogsâ of data transfer from time to time. Because of the fluid and diffuse nature of this system of encoding, the matrix is always changing. Only the intended recipients will be able to decipher communications,â said Mary.
âHow do we know these people are reliable, that one or more of them wonât do a âSnowdenâ on us?â The CEO was cooler now, but Sean thought that there must have been something hidden within the emails which had really gotten to him.
âEveryone working at ADR has been recruited with security in mind. They all have compelling reasons to remain anonymous. We know a great deal about each employee and they know and respect that.â Mary retained her poise. âPersonnel turnover at ADR is extremely low.â
The CEO looked at the CFO, who nodded.
âMs. Robinson, would you be willing to sell ADR in its entirety, including the transfer of all its employees, not as contractors but as full employees, in a cash plus stock options transaction?â
A tremor passed through Maryâs body.
âThat would be a⊠possibility. Starting from the original figures⊠weâll have to get some numbers and terms on paper. Iâll have my people talk to your people.â
âShall we meet again, with the new proposal? Same time, same place, next week?â The CEO's smile was toothy, lupine.
Mary's smile was pleasant but tight.
âUntil next week.â
Everyone got up, shook hands and began to file out. It reminded Sean of the end of a little league game. The CIO walked over to Sean, pulled him aside and began to speak:
âYouâre Senator Clarksonâs son, the one involved with that business in Iceland?â
âYes, I am.â Sean didnât like to talk about Billygate but he thought heâd see what this guy wantedâhe might find himself working for him soon, Sean didnât need to burn any bridges before he got to them. The CIO was enthusiastic:
âSo, if I may ask in a general fashion, did ADR encryption have any part in that affair? I mean if itâs OK to talk about.â
âWell, until that situation is fully resolved with the legal authorities I canât really comment on it. I will say this, however: The government had possession of my laptop and could not get any information out of it.â
He thought it better not to mention sending Billyâs files to Mary via the Icelandic Postal Service. The irony of using snail mail wouldnât be appreciated, and it certainly wouldnât help Maryâs efforts to sell ADR.
Next Chapter: Coffee Shop