4.4.1. This is the message each new subscriber to the Cypherpunks
lists gets, by Eric Hughes:
4.4.2. "Cypherpunks assume privacy is a good thing and wish there
were more of it. Cypherpunks acknowledge that those who want
privacy must create it for themselves and not expect
governments, corporations, or other large, faceless
organizations to grant them privacy out of beneficence.
Cypherpunks know that people have been creating their own
privacy for centuries with whispers, envelopes, closed doors,
and couriers. Cypherpunks do not seek to prevent other
people from speaking about their experiences or their
opinions.
"The most important means to the defense of privacy is
encryption. To encrypt is to indicate the desire for privacy.
But to encrypt with weak cryptography is to indicate not too
much desire for privacy. Cypherpunks hope that all people
desiring privacy will learn how best to defend it.
"Cypherpunks are therefore devoted to cryptography.
Cypherpunks wish to learn about it, to teach it, to implement
it, and to make more of it. Cypherpunks know that
cryptographic protocols make social structures. Cypherpunks
know how to attack a system and how to defend it.
Cypherpunks know just how hard it is to make good
cryptosystems.
"Cypherpunks love to practice. They love to play with public
key cryptography. They love to play with anonymous and
pseudonymous mail forwarding and delivery. They love to play
with DC-nets. They love to play with secure communications
of all kinds.
"Cypherpunks write code. They know that someone has to write
code to defend privacy, and since it's their privacy, they're
going to write it. Cypherpunks publish their code so that
their fellow cypherpunks may practice and play with it.
Cypherpunks realize that security is not built in a day and
are patient with incremental progress.
"Cypherpunks don't care if you don't like the software they
write. Cypherpunks know that software can't be destroyed.
Cypherpunks know that a widely dispersed system can't be shut
down.
"Cypherpunks will make the networks safe for privacy." [Eric
Hughes, 1993-07-21 version]
By Tim May, see README
HTML by Jonathan Rochkind