Wes Kussmaul


Wes Kussmaul, author of several books about online security, is the founder of the Kussmaul Encyclopedia, the first online encyclopedia.
In 1971, while stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base, Kussmaul received a degree in physics from the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Missouri. After his military service, he became a systems analyst at Liberty Mutual, developing mainframe database applications. His positions in sales management for Gould Incorporated, Benson SA and Tektronix, Inc. and his territory in the Cambridge, Massachusetts research and development community put him in contact with the pre-web Internet pioneers.

Kussmaul Encyclopedia

In 1980, Kussmaul developed the Kussmaul Encyclopedia which came complete with its own computer system. Kussmaul's online encyclopedic database cross-referenced topics by employing an early example of hypertext. In 1981 he founded the company that became Delphi. Located at 3 Blackstone Street in Cambridge, Delphi was first known as Kussmaul Encyclopedia. In 1982, it featured the ASCII-based encyclopedia, chat, email, newswires and bulletin boards. On March 15, 1983, the Delphi name was first used by General Videotex Corporation. Delphi also carried the Grolier's Online Encyclopedia, which by 1989 had 31,000 entries.
One of the contributors to the Kussmaul Encyclopedia was Dudley M. Marchi, who wrote these Kussmaul entries in May 1984: "Thomas Pynchon," "Harold Pinter," "The Beatles," "John Fowles," "John Lennon," "Michel Foucault."
Kussmaul recalled:
As Delphi's CEO, Kussmaul launched a spin-off company, Global Villages, Inc., to provide magazine publishers with the tools and information that allowed them to offer online services to their subscribers and advertisers under their own name.
After Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation bought Delphi in 1993, Kussmaul sold the hosting portion of Global Villages Inc. to a partnership that became part of NTT Verio, an operation known as The Village Group.

The Authenticity Institute

Wes Kussmaul developed The Authenticity Institute in conjunction with his two books: "Quiet Enjoyment" and "Own Your Privacy". All three are a response to the architectural flaws of the internet that make identity security difficult and an impending authenticity inflection point, which demonstrates a paramount need for authenticity among internet users.
Wes Kussmaul is currently the CIO and CEO of The Authenticity Institute, a business incubator that focuses on commercial, non-commercial and non-profit enterprises that promote authenticity of identity online. The Authenticity Institute and its members produce Quiet Enjoyment Infrastructure. QEI is the construction of 'safe spaces' online where users can operate without worry of identity theft and manipulation. QEI is a form of Public Key Infrastructure that uses personal assertions of identity, attestation of identity by a public authority, and a set of 'keys' for encrypting and decrypting information which are controlled by the user in order to create and ensure these 'safe spaces'. Currently, there are four members of The Authenticity Institute that directly contribute to QEI:
Kussmaul's books about online privacy and security include Quiet Enjoyment, Own Your Privacy and The Future Needs You.