The Philolexian Society of Columbia University
Perry Metzger
Proprietor of the Cryptography mailing list; the forum where Satoshi Nakamoto hashed out Bitcoin in October 2008.
From Notable Alumni · Foundation editorial
Proprietor of the Cryptography mailing list; the forum where Satoshi Nakamoto hashed out Bitcoin in October 2008. Perry Metzger has spent three decades running mailing lists for people who write cryptographic protocols and argue about money, which is to say he has spent three decades on the internet. As proprietor of the Cryptography list at metzdowd.com, he was the host of Satoshi Nakamoto's October 2008 announcement of Bitcoin and the subsequent back-and-forth improving the idea, and, six weeks later, the moderator who told everyone to stop talking about it and go write papers. He has since co-authored IPsec RFCs, coined the term "Jupiter Brain," and co-founded a Washington nonprofit dedicated to the proposition that artificial intelligence will not, in fact, kill us all.
Vital
- Full name
- Perry Metzger
Columbia & the Society
- Columbia
- Class of 1987 (Columbia Engineering)
Works (7)
- 1995 IPsec RFCs (co-author) · Internet standards
- 2009 “Improving TCP Security with Robust Cookies” (co-author, with William Allen Simpson and Paul Vixie) · ;login: (USENIX Magazine), Vol. 34, No. 6
- 2011 “One-Way Cryptography” (co-author, with Sandy Clark, Travis Goodspeed, Zachary Wasserman, Kevin Xu, Matt Blaze) · Security Protocols Workshop, pp. 336–340
- 2011 “Why (Special Agent) Johnny (Still) Can’t Encrypt: A Security Analysis of the APCO Project 25 Two-Way Radio System” (co-author, with Sandy Clark, Travis Goodspeed, Zachary Wasserman, Kevin Xu, Matt Blaze) · USENIX Security Symposium
- 2023 “Diminished Capacity” (Substack newsletter) · Ongoing personal essay newsletter
- 2025 Science Comics: Computers: How Digital Hardware Works (co-author, with Penelope Spector) · Middle-grade nonfiction graphic novel
- 1990 Cryptography mailing list (proprietor, metzdowd.com) · Online forum — Bitcoin announcement venue (2008)
Primary sources
The Columbia Daily Spectator
2000-12-01 Poets Perform in Off-Beat Event poem author, quoted
Poets Perform in Off-Beat Event BY KATHERINE HAENSCHEN Spectator Staff Writer "With their moles and their drolls and their hard luck lives/ Their greasy noses like curly fries/ They spark a twinkle in my eyes/ At least I am not them." The dulcet tones of Ben Kopit, CC 'O2, and the 15th Annual Alfred Joyce Kilmer Bad Poetry Contest, sponsored by the Philolexian Society, flowed last night from the Kraft Center. Students, alumni and guests battled for the honor of Poet Laureate —the award given to the worst poet of the night. Contestants read original works that were judged by four professors spanning the humanities department. 'This event is the best of Columbia," said Rachel KahnTroster, BC 'Ol, the evening's moderator. "It's serious and funny and really bizarre and it brings all aspects of the campus together." Former Philolexian Society member Thomas Vinciguerra gave an…
The Foundation's research archive
correspondence
Perry E. Metzger · Confidence: CERTAIN
other_printed (philolexian roll of members 1963-2021)
struck through by hand · Confidence: CERTAIN
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