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Judge Creates Own "Da Vinci Code"

news.bbc.co.uk — The judge who presided over the failed Da Vinci Code plagiarism case at London's High Court hid his own secret code in his written judgement. Italicised letters in the first few pages of the judgement (available online, linked from the article) spell out "Smithy Code", while the following pages also contain marked out letters.

Who dugg this? Made popular Apr 27, 2006

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  • MrUnderbridge, on 10/12/2007, -2/+38Nope. That would have to be this one:

    http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0306061billy1.html

    To summarize, a judge tossed a completely unintelligible motion and put a footnote from Billy Madison, quoting the "Everyone in this room is now dumber for having heard it" bit. Now *that* judge is my freaking hero.
  • ByteGuerilla, on 10/12/2007, -3/+19First digger to crack the code wins one internents!!

    (As I'm sure you know, internents have overtaken cookies as the currency of the internet.)
  • Matteos, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18JAI EXTOS TG PATGRAM QWFKAD PMQIN...
    Oh No... Cthulhu is coming... Run!!!!
  • whoutz, on 10/12/2007, -7/+20I'm tired of people saying, "I know its fiction, but it makes you wonder how much?" Then they start saying how they believe in space aliens, and before you know they are paying scientology to learn about about Xenu the galatic warlord again. It's only going to get worse with the movie coming out, because if you're not smart enough to read, then you're definately going to believe a lame movie. So now I'm going to have a head ache with stupid divinci codes like this one everywhere.
  • airship, on 10/12/2007, -5/+18Best. Judgement. Ever.
  • nmec, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11link to the full judgement:
    http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/images/judgment-files/baigent_v_rhg_0406.pdf

    and for the lasier the 'code' (in the order they are found) :
    JAIEXTOSTGPATGRAMQWFKADPMQIN

    This article in the Guardian seems to think that a Codex is needed to decode it
    http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,1762351,00.html

    And this NYTimes article says that there is a clue to solving the code on a page in the Da Vinci Code
    http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/27/books/27code.html
    I think the page is 430-431 (UK Paperback Edition) - the beginning of Chapter 79 listing the previous Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion, although I could be completely wrong on that.
  • nmec, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Sorry, the code should be:

    smithycodeJaeiextostgpsacgreamqwfkadpmqzv

    via http://timesonline.typepad.com/law_weblog/2006/04/the_da_vinci_co.html
  • Spanca, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7I've met a few judges through my father (himself a judge) and you'd be surprised how 'normal' they all are. They're not stuck up or tight arses (although there are always exceptions). Most I've me are genuinely nice and funny people.
  • Matt2k, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10Beleive me, I think this is interesting. And the judge above who quoted Adam Sandler is simply hilarious

    But, that said, I'm really not sure this is appropriate behavior for a head of the judicial branch. Judges are supposed to be presented as stoic level-headed individuals, they must command respect. It's the reason why we address them as "Your honor" and stand as they enter the courtroom. Even when you're in small claims over a $100 collection.

    Judges are of course human and welcome to have great senses of humor, but I don't know if a formal ruling is the place to be expressing ones self.
  • DDRSkata, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7This judge is my hero.
  • smenkhare, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6It is really worth reading the judgement - probably rather more interesting than reading the books. You can detect the judge's sense of humour on a number of occasions. He also writes with supreme clarity - what it takes to be a judge I suppose.
  • teeheehee, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5To me it seems the act of judgment is more of an art than a science. Sure there are precedents and lots of Latin words, there are rules to follow and all the such - but as with any other field of profession there needs to be a certain amount of space given to the humanistic base that it all derives from, responds to, and ultimately must reflect in some way.

    I don't have a problem with a Judge adding their own style, so long as the judgment itself is fair and stands the test of reason.

    After all, judges are human. I would say they should be encouraged to reflect their humanity rather than shed it from their rulings.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5use vignere and this:
    BRKFYTBCKAZPGALCRTPOOIRZXJMISVD
  • Reiab, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6It's nice to know that there's still some humor left in the Judicial System.
  • Barnstormer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I got JAEIEXTOSTGPSACGREAMQWFKADPMQVZ

    The NY Times piece missed one G and the V, and the IN near the end of nmec's post is incorrect, I believe. The judge was italicizing a word for effect - something like "they weren't Kings of France they were Kings IN France" - if so then it is probably not part of the code.

    Someone on fark pointed out that you can paste the contents of the PDF into Word and replace all the bold-italic text with 72-point bold-italic, then delete anything that isn't part of an italicized heading or phrase. The code is then clearly readable.
  • crsd36, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I dont see what the problem is, the way I see it, he is trying to get more people to actually take the time to read his decision. I mean, how many people have actually read an entire judgement before? I know I havent before, but I know that I will read this one...
  • Rounin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I thought Xenu checked my web links.

    http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html
  • onektwenty4, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3haha!
    nice... i dont know how you came up with that as the key.... but for all yall, check out this site:
    http://sharkysoft.com/misc/vigenere/
    and use the judge's garbled text as the encoded message
  • garrettnb, on 10/12/2007, -10/+13SOLVED IT

    All your case are belong to us!

  • Hubris, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3How so? If the new book is a copy, then the idea of hidden messages etc must be in both works and he doesn't have a bias. If it isn't present in both works, then the second book is different than the first and not a copy.
  • Kitsune818, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Hmm.. not a Caesarian shift.. the "smithycode" implys it might be a Vignere, but it doesn't have a standard table if it is. It's length is prime.. anyone have any ideas?
  • humanpowered, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3But HBHG was supposedly a work of fact. How can perpetuating "facts" be considered plagarism? I think those authors just undermined their own work.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This is so cool.
  • jdibiase, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Another judicial opinion where the judge has a little fun ... http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/txt/1726.txt
  • markormesher, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I think it's great, big fan of the book even though i am *gasp* christian. And honestly, if you are freeking out about the "extra publicity" that this gives DVC, pull your head out of your ass. If you take FICTION seriously, you are probably the person who thinks John Hammond actually created dinosaurs.
    Why is it such a bad thing for a judge to have a sense of humor? Honestly, if a judge smiles and is polite to me, maybe cracks a few jokes, ill probably take his judgment BETTER than otherwise. If you want a robotic judge, then make all of your judges into robots! I'm sure his mates got a good laugh out of it, as, i hope, did most of you.
  • tablatronix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1hahaa it was on tv the other day. Had to watch it.
  • nene7070, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2that had to be the funniest thing ive read all day
  • jmcqk6, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2A new type of viral marketing? probably not, but it would have been genius if it was.
  • auto_exec, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Hmmm... not sure this is it, but.... Using the Atbash method described in "The DaVinci Code" on the smithycode, you get this line of text:

    qzvrvcglhgtkhzxtivznjdupzwknjae

    Now, if you go to the previously linked Vigenere page (http://sharkysoft.com/misc/vigenere/) and do the following:

    1) Input: Jaeiextostgpsacgreamqwfkadpmqzv
    2) Key: qzvrvcglhgtkhzxtivznjdupzwknjae
    3) Hit Encode.

    Interesting stuff, maybe the judge is showing his true feelings about the case?

    I'm not sure why you'd hit "encode" rather than "decode", but I tried to determine if the unique result I'd gotten was due to scripting problems on the site, etc.... however, by changing any of the input or key chars, the resultant output is different... which leads me to believe that I may have stumbled onto something. What are the odds of all the output chars being exactly the same?

    Check it out, let me know what you all think.
  • anagoge, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4I'd have to agree really. I was half expecting the story to contain something along the lines of " and will be at a court hearing himself next week". Having said that, it is of course great to see that you can still have some fun when dealing with a serious matter.
  • as2003, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Someone solved it: http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,18908,00.html?fdnews
  • brhad56, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Unlikely that J = J
  • brhad56, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Why do I suspect that this is not the correct answer?
  • johnjaccob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1IJUDGESMITHAMAREALLYCOOLDUDEYAW this is what I got.
  • plingboot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I think the judge realised the whole thing was a PR exercise. Both books are owned by the same publisher, they couldn't lose.
  • mattrmcg, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2i think the judge put the secret code there to cure boredom during the ruling...kinda like the back of the Lucky Charms box or something

    reminds me of the triple scrambled communication signal between two soldiers talking in mandarin Chinese that was cracked by a Drogan's Decoder Wheel found in a box of Lucky Charms by Austin Milbarge (god i love Spies Like Us)
  • Doubtfulsalm, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I thought that HBHG was meant to propose the idea and say "was it possible? well yes it is", whereas DVC said "this did happen, look I've solved it."
  • evoleddy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Now that would be funny. I think that that judge has too much time and needs a better hobby than spending time inserting codes into his judgements.
    But I think if he had a geek reference like that then he would be as cool as Judge Billy Madison.
  • kryptogrowl, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I don't believe the hidden message was the point of the case. My understanding is it was the content about Jesus being married, etc, the case was based on.
  • mevryck, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I tried forming a sentence with the letters as a result - "motweirdfactssatire"..It is no where close to the judgement but my instincts says that the word "weird" has got something to do with everything..in DVC(WEIRDO DA VINCI)
  • bitcloud, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5Cmon digg... Slashdot's probably got it solved by now!
  • auto_exec, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Ah... unfortunately, while amusing, my find is expected... Having done a bit of research into how the Vigenere's cipher works, what I'd done would guarantee all Z's. Vigenere's cipher is a based on a square, with the alphabet running across the x and y axis. From wikipedia: "It consists of the alphabet written out 26 times in different rows, each alphabet shifted cyclically to the left compared to the previous alphabet, corresponding to the 26 possible Caesar ciphers."

    Bottom line is, by combining the message one way with the characters' opposite values (via Atbash), I always got the same character - a 'Z'.

    Ah, well. Can't believe no one's posted the answer yet!
  • badmethod, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0That's all fun and fine and dandy, but it seems rather conspicuously timed, what with the movie coming out and all...
  • trinitor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Hmm, been doing this often in my written assignments at school, spelling out comments to the teachers who of course never studies my work close enough to discover these secrets :)
  • lexbaby, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Yeah, too bad (for those outside of the UK) it's the British Judicial System.
  • whoutz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2No, xenu blew up trillians of people in the volcanos of hawaii and then made them watch reruns. http://xenu.net/archive/leaflet/xenuleaf.htm
  • MrUnderbridge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Probably not, but possible. As I recall, one of the weaknesses of Enigma that helped crack it was that no letter could be mapped onto itself.
  • klept, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0And the Brits think the Americans are nuts.
  • pixogen, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I tried some anagrams, but there were FAR too many results to sift through.
  • djkritikal, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1JAEIE = JESUS?
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