I think it is a good question.

I would think Z had some training, whether self taught or otherwise, in codes.

Even more likely is that he would imo have an interest in codes, games, puzzles, secret messages, numbers, math.

Agreed, AK.

I guess I was wondering from the cipher folks whether they see anything in the construction of Zodiac’s ciphers that speaks of any kind of formal cipher training. For instance, we know that Z seemed to be familiar with and utilized letter frequency but would this require any specific training? Obviously, it would be easier to tell if the 340 and shorter ciphers were solved to see how they were constructed. I just ask because I believe the general impression is that Z had to be some sort of code expert and learned that expertise somewhere besides his own imagination.

As an example, here’s the "Good Times cipher" that was created by some unknown individual or individuals working at Gaikowski’s newspaper. At first glance, it appears far more complicated than the 340 cipher but it’s really just a fancy-looking substitution using mathematical symbols. This would seem to indicate a knowledge of college-level mathematics (calculus… ugh!) but not necessarily any special cipher training, IMO.

Here is another possibility.

http://nautil.us/blog/the-prison-guard- … gang-codes

As I recall (it’s been a while) what happened with that material was I transcribed it into symbols which would be OK for ZKD, and then Glurk and I (seperately?) ran it and arrived at a solution, which he then rather painstakingly typed in over the original image, part of which you see there.
Or something along those lines. He deserves the lions share of credit, for sure, since ZKD’s basically his program. I believe he also brushed up my raw materials, removing some of the transcription errors. (It was late in the evening, for me. A bit like now!)

In respect to the material itself, it’s not a "cipher", per se. Well, not in my opinion.
It is simple one-to-one substitution, yes, but the way it was accomplished (I believe) was to throw the switch either on a Linotype (or perhaps Monotype) typesetting machine, so that the font used was that funky looking "symbol"-like one, instead of something "normal", like Times (for instance).
Try it for yourself in Microsoft Word or similar. Set the font to Symbol (or similar) and type something.

I think the interesting bit for Glurk and I was to figure out the stuff written upside-down on the top of the paper, which took a few minutes longer.
The text is an article about a black female civil rights campaigner, a famous figure of the time (as I recall), and I think it’s also word-for-word what appeared in the paper in the "correct" font, I think. That’s about it. (Glurk may want to expand, correct, or offer his original full image, perhaps. He may not.)

BTW relationship to Z-ciphers? I think zero. JMO.

Oh! "Did Zodiac have formal cipher training?" Perhaps. 

Perhaps? What kind of answer is that, smithy?

The Good Times cipher was really just offered as an example of a cipher that looks daunting but was rather simple and created by folks who likely had no specific training. I do think the 340 is certainly more complicated but was there any special training to make it that way? I’m guessing there’s really no clear answer to be had about that.

I think if we go by the 408. No.

If we judge the 340, the my name is, and Mt. D code as being legit, then yes. If it is mumbo-jumbo to make us think he is superior. No.

So…perhaps.

I think if we go by the 408. No.

If we judge the 340, the my name is, and Mt. D code as being legit, then yes. If it is mumbo-jumbo to make us think he is superior. No.

So…perhaps.

I’ll go with that too.

So… two votes for perhaps! I understand what you mean, Tahoe, and that makes sense. We don’t know what method(s) were used in 3 out of 4 ciphers so it’s hard to say what the method(s) might say about him. I agree but I do think it’s important to keep in mind that it doesn’t take a genius to create a crackproof cipher.

Think about that "code" this grandmother created. It wasn’t even intended as anything other than a shorthand message from her own thoughts but it was/is still difficult to solve.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/th … 12093.html

Another more relevant example would be BTK’s "GBSOAP" code (thanks to doranchak for obtaining the images), which could not be solved by investigators because BTK held the key to the solution in the form of a keyword, a personal "project name" for one of his victims. Without it, the code was impossible to solve, although I’m not sure Rader (BTK) was even aware of that. To me, there are a million ways that Zodiac could have manipulated the 340 to make it extraordinary difficult or impossible to solve that didn’t involve a genius IQ or any formal training whatsoever.

While "perhaps" is a very reasonable answer, I’ll go on record as voting "no".

With what we know (the 408), "no" makes sense.

I do agree that as long as only the creator has the key, it could be completely unsolvable to anyone without that key…including the creator should he lose it. But, didn’t someone say any cipher created by man can be solved by man? …or something like that?

This is a baffling question to answer. I’ve had no "training" in ciphers, but I’m pretty good at them, and have even made and solved codes since grade school. And I read a lot.

So I think Zodiac was similar and had an interest in them and was more well-versed than the average Joe. But formal "training" — I’d have to say no.

P.S. Regarding that Good Times "cipher," Smithy is correct. It’s not a cipher nor was it ever intended to be one. It is a political article just like others they published regularly and routinely,
but someone screwed up and printed it in the wrong font. Just like if one wrote some text in Wordpad and then changed the font to ‘WingDings.’

-glurk

Thanks for your input, glurk. I was actually going to mention the fact the ZKDekrypto hasn’t solved it yet might be considered as evidence of a LACK of formal cipher training. If Z was utilizing some established methodology or even a variation of one, ZKDekrypto (not to mention its users) may have spotted it already or at least found whispers of that in the construction of the 340 cipher, no? I’m discounting the other two because they’re virtually unsolvable with any certitude.

That’s not to say that it can’t be solved by ZKDekrypto but it seems like it might require some speculation about method or a key, like BTK’s code did to solve. I think I mentioned to doranchak something along the lines of Z encoding his message by every 13th symbol so the 13th symbol in the 340 would represent the first letter of the cipher. Genius? Hardly… The result of Navy cryptography training? Probably not… Unsolvable? Very possibly unless Z, like BTK, shared his method with us. Like the Hardens’ guessing about Z using the word "KILL" to solve the 408, I wonder if a guess at the methodology isn’t required to give us a fighting chance.

P.S. Regarding that Good Times "cipher," Smithy is correct. It’s not a cipher nor was it ever intended to be one. It is a political article just like others they published regularly and routinely,
but someone screwed up and printed it in the wrong font. Just like if one wrote some text in Wordpad and then changed the font to ‘WingDings.’
-glurk

Hmm… you seriously think this would get by the editor at Good Times? He would probably KILL anyone who made a mistake like that! I honestly think it was probably meant to be more like a cryptogram for their readership as a kind of warning to their readership of the potential infiltration by COINTELPRO and other government programs that were no doubt suspicious of what they were trying to get across in their newspaper. Or even a message to the government, who would surely solve it and receive the message essentially saying "we’re onto you!"

LOS ANGELES (LNS) – "I am not going to Washington nor will I go to San Francisco – nor will I testify. I will not allow the FBI and the Justice Department to use me any more to hurt the innocent people whose only crime – from my experience – is FBI disapproval of their political beliefs."

Now – Divale says – he regrets having written the letter; he sees that action as affecting not only academic freedom – but also the question of racism and Women’s Liberation. Angela Davis has become the symbol of all those issues. He added – "I have to sincerely apologise to Angela Davis on that matter.€"

“German FRACTIONAL code” I’m a double dolt today. I was wondering what happen to this article, I’m glad it’s being brought up.

When the police asked Rader about the cipher. He believed they actually solved it because he got picked up. He believed right there and then they had solved it. When they asked him what it said. He was probably thinking how the hell, did they get me because they didn’t solve it. Not knowing about the floppy disk trace yet…

So when he realized they couldn’t or didn’t solve the cipher. He played dumb real fast making up shit like PIANO is the key and not remembering how to duplicate the cipher.

What I’m trying to get at…the solution to the cipher is his identity. I’ll post the results if anyone is interested.

I believe this German Fractional/Fragmentation ciphers is Military and CIA related????

Dg9

I disagree, Dan. The keyword "PIANO" solves at least the second part of the code. I alluded to the way it was created but I’m a triple dolt because I haven’t been able to reproduce the solution either. I did when it was presented- that’s how I know that it is not a complete solution. The solved portion really offered nothing specific except a possible reference to more victims (whether or not there really were any). It’s really a fairly simple encoding method but my point is that Rader alone held the key. I don’t know if he even knew that for sure but he certainly would have enjoyed it if he did. I don’t know for sure if he had any formal training in the military but that’s an interesting question for this discussion.