Crypto Manifesto
Sam Goto
Just ran into the news that the author of the cyrpto manifesto has passed away.
Thought it would be useful to reproduce it here:
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!
--
..........................................................................
Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@netcom.com | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
408-688-5409 | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments.
Higher Power: 2^756839 | PGP Public Key: by arrangement.