Existing comment:
Black Chambers:
Letter Tampering in European Courts:
Throughout the 1700s, European monarchs ran black chambers -- secret offices where mail was intercepted, read, and resealed. The most renowned black chamber (cabinet noir) in Vienna, operated like a small factory, with mail delivered promptly each morning, sorted, and assigned to the appropriate specialist.
Correspondents tried to thwart the black chamber by writing in secret code and designing intricate seals. The black chamber in turn developed ever more sophisticated methods of decoding letters and replacing seals. Black chambers lasted until the early 1900s, when they succumbed to political change and new technology. |