REPORT -- Cryptography History Directory Audit

Date: 2026-03-22
Auditor: Claude instance (Opus 4.6)

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What Was Found

The directory had a skeleton structure with metadata files (two READMEs, a bibliography, a timeline CSV) but no actual manuscript content. The root README claimed the paper was "Complete" and referenced a `paper.tex` (46KB LaTeX source) that did not exist. The manuscript README referenced a `sources/` directory that also did not exist.

Four empty directories: `data/processed/`, `results/`, `results/figures/`, `src/`. No images.

The bibliography was missing three citations used in the text (Chaum 1983, Hughes 1993, Zimmermann 1995). Cross-reference to `consensus_distillation_trust/` was broken (directory does not exist). Cross-reference to `mathematical_foundations/` is valid.

No "Empathy Swap" references found.

What Was Done

Written

`manuscript/cryptography_and_bitcoin.md` -- Full paper, approximately 5,000 words. Seven sections covering Caesar cipher (50 BCE) through Bitcoin's double-spend probability theorem.

`README.md` -- Rewritten for a public audience.

`REPORT.md` -- This file.

Second pass (self-review)

The first draft had problems. Fixed:

Manuscript was a textbook. Rewrote to include the human stakes. Phil Zimmermann's criminal prosecution is told as a story, not a footnote. The genesis block headline is connected to what it meant -- bank bailouts paid for by the people the banks defrauded. David Chaum's DigiCash failure is given its own section because the lesson matters: systems that require permission from the people they displace will not get permission. The synthesis section (now "Who Gets to Decide") no longer repeats the abstract -- it makes the argument the paper earned.

Security table values loo