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107 lines
4.8 KiB
Plaintext
107 lines
4.8 KiB
Plaintext
From: tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)
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Subject: The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto
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Date: Sun, 22 Nov 92 12:11:24 PST
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Cypherpunks of the World,
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Several of you at the "physical Cypherpunks" gathering yesterday in
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Silicon Valley requested that more of the material passed out in
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meetings be available electronically to the entire readership of the
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Cypherpunks list, spooks, eavesdroppers, and all. <Gulp>
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Here's the "Crypto Anarchist Manifesto" I read at the September 1992
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founding meeting. It dates back to mid-1988 and was distributed to
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some like-minded techno-anarchists at the "Crypto '88" conference and
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then again at the "Hackers Conference" that year. I later gave talks
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at Hackers on this in 1989 and 1990.
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There are a few things I'd change, but for historical reasons I'll
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just leave it as is. Some of the terms may be unfamiliar to you...I
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hope the Crypto Glossary I just distributed will help.
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(This should explain all those cryptic terms in my .signature!)
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--Tim May
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...................................................
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The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto
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Timothy C. May
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tcmay@netcom.com
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A specter is haunting the modern world, the specter of crypto
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anarchy.
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Computer technology is on the verge of providing the ability for
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individuals and groups to communicate and interact with each other
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in a totally anonymous manner. Two persons may exchange
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messages, conduct business, and negotiate electronic contracts
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without ever knowing the True Name, or legal identity, of the other.
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Interactions over networks will be untraceable, via extensive re-
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routing of encrypted packets and tamper-proof boxes which
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implement cryptographic protocols with nearly perfect assurance
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against any tampering. Reputations will be of central importance, far
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more important in dealings than even the credit ratings of today.
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These developments will alter completely the nature of government
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regulation, the ability to tax and control economic interactions, the
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ability to keep information secret, and will even alter the nature of
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trust and reputation.
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The technology for this revolution--and it surely will be both a social
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and economic revolution--has existed in theory for the past decade.
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The methods are based upon public-key encryption, zero-knowledge
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interactive proof systems, and various software protocols for
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interaction, authentication, and verification. The focus has until now
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been on academic conferences in Europe and the U.S., conferences
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monitored closely by the National Security Agency. But only recently
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have computer networks and personal computers attained sufficient
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speed to make the ideas practically realizable. And the next ten
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years will bring enough additional speed to make the ideas
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economically feasible and essentially unstoppable. High-speed
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networks, ISDN, tamper-proof boxes, smart cards, satellites, Ku-band
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transmitters, multi-MIPS personal computers, and encryption chips
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now under development will be some of the enabling technologies.
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The State will of course try to slow or halt the spread of this
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technology, citing national security concerns, use of the technology
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by drug dealers and tax evaders, and fears of societal disintegration.
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Many of these concerns will be valid; crypto anarchy will allow
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national secrets to be trade freely and will allow illicit and stolen
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materials to be traded. An anonymous computerized market will
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even make possible abhorrent markets for assassinations and
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extortion. Various criminal and foreign elements will be active users
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of CryptoNet. But this will not halt the spread of crypto anarchy.
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Just as the technology of printing altered and reduced the power of
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medieval guilds and the social power structure, so too will
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cryptologic methods fundamentally alter the nature of corporations
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and of government interference in economic transactions. Combined
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with emerging information markets, crypto anarchy will create a
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liquid market for any and all material which can be put into words
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and pictures. And just as a seemingly minor invention like barbed
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wire made possible the fencing-off of vast ranches and farms, thus
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altering forever the concepts of land and property rights in the
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frontier West, so too will the seemingly minor discovery out of an
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arcane branch of mathematics come to be the wire clippers which
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dismantle the barbed wire around intellectual property.
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Arise, you have nothing to lose but your barbed wire fences!
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--
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..........................................................................
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Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
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tcmay@netcom.com | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
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408-688-5409 | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
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W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments.
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Higher Power: 2^756839 | PGP Public Key: by arrangement.
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