16.4.1. Unchanged since it's writing in mid-1988, except for my e-
mail address.
- There are some changes I'd make, but...
- It was written quickly, and in a style to deliberately
mimic what I remembered of the "Communist Manifesto." (for
ironic reasons)
- Still., I'm proud that more than six years ago I correctly
saw some major points which Cypherpunks have helped to make
happen: remailers, anonymous communictation, reputation-
based systems, etc.
- For history's sake, here it is:
16.4.2.
The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto
Timothy C. May
tcmay@netcom.com
A specter is haunting the modern world, the specter of crypto
anarchy.
Computer technology is on the verge of providing the ability
for individuals and groups to communicate and interact with
each other in a totally anonymous manner. Two persons may
exchange messages, conduct business, and negotiate electronic
contracts without ever knowing the True Name, or legal
identity, of the other. Interactions over networks will be
untraceable, via extensive re-routing of encrypted packets
and tamper-proof boxes which implement cryptographic
protocols with nearly perfect assurance against any
tampering. Reputations will be of central importance, far
more important in dealings than even the credit ratings of
today. These developments will alter completely the nature of
government regulation, the ability to tax and control
economic interactions, the ability to keep information
secret, and will even alter the nature of trust and
reputation.
The technology for this revolution--and it surely will be
both a social and economic revolution--has existed in theory
for the past decade. The methods are based upon public-key
encryption, zero-knowledge interactive proof systems, and
various software protocols for interaction, authentication,
and verification. The focus has until now been on academic
conferences in Europe and the U.S., conferences monitored
closely by the National Security Agency. But only recently
have computer networks and personal computers attained
sufficient speed to make the ideas practically realizable.
And the next ten years will bring enough additional speed to
make the ideas economically feasible and essentially
unstoppable. High-speed networks, ISDN, tamper-proof boxes,
smart cards, satellites, Ku-band transmitters, multi-MIPS
personal computers, and encryption chips now under
development will be some of the enabling technologies.
The State will of course try to slow or halt the spread of
this technology, citing national security concerns, use of
the technology by drug dealers and tax evaders, and fears of
societal disintegration. Many of these concerns will be
valid; crypto anarchy will allow national secrets to be trade
freely and will allow illicit and stolen materials to be
traded. An anonymous computerized market will even make
possible abhorrent markets for assassinations and extortion.
Various criminal and foreign elements will be active users of
CryptoNet. But this will not halt the spread of crypto
anarchy.
Just as the technology of printing altered and reduced the
power of medieval guilds and the social power structure, so
too will cryptologic methods fundamentally alter the nature
of corporations
and of government interference in economic transactions.
Combined with emerging information markets, crypto anarchy
will create a liquid market for any and all material which
can be put into words and pictures. And just as a seemingly
minor invention like barbed wire made possible the fencing-
off of vast ranches and farms, thus altering forever the
concepts of land and property rights in the frontier West, so
too will the seemingly minor discovery out of an
arcane branch of mathematics come to be the wire clippers
which dismantle the barbed wire around intellectual property.
Arise, you have nothing to lose but your barbed wire fences!
By Tim May, see README
HTML by Jonathan Rochkind