Gil Hamilton (great nym!) wrote:

Didn't you already sign on? Surely through your careful study of the archives you know that one of the founding documents for this list is Tim's "Crypto Anarchist Manifesto". It's practically the charter. See, for example, http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Crypto_misc/cryptoanarchist.manifesto

Equally relevant is the companion Cypherpunk's Manifesto, http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Crypto_misc/cypherpunk.manifesto, by Eric Hughes. Hughes was co-founder of the cypherpunks, with Tim May, although May has maintained a larger presence on the list. Eric Hughes' document is largely forgotten other than "Cypherpunks write code." But let us look at one of its concluding points: For privacy to be widespread it must be part of a social contract. People must come and together deploy these systems for the common good. Privacy only extends so far as the cooperation of one's fellows in society. We the Cypherpunks seek your questions and your concerns and hope we may engage you so that we do not deceive ourselves. We will not, however, be moved out of our course because some may disagree with our goals. List subscribers may be surprised to see such sentiments from a cypherpunks founder. Privacy as a social contract? Depending on the cooperation of one's fellows in society? Seeking engagement with those who disagree? Where is the hatred, the aggression? Where is the applause for shooting policemen in the face, or killing innocent children to make a political point? Where is the disdain and thin-skinned, spiteful resentment at criticism? None of these are inherent characteristics of the cypherpunk philosophy. It is often forgotten that the cypherpunks movement is not primarily political or legal or even technical. It is moral. Cypherpunks have a vision of a morally superior society, and they seek to achieve it through technology. The cypherpunk world replaces coercion with cooperation. It provides the shield of anonymity against those who would offer violence and aggression. As we move into the information age, control of information is control of the individual. Thus, privacy, control of information about one's self, is freedom. And as Eric Hughes points out, cypherpunk technologies are ultimately based on social cooperation. By definition, anonymity is meaningless unless it is attained as part of a group. "People must come together and deploy these systems for the common good." If it sounds ironic or paradoxical that cypherpunks are motivated for the common good and bound by a social contract, you've been mixing with the wrong cypherpunks. Learn to see the cooperative philosophy behind the movement and you will come to a better understanding of its potential and its problems. Cypherpunks don't have to be misanthropes and curmudgeons. There is need for idealists, for visionaries, for those who want to make the world a better place than they found it, who want to improve the lives of all classes of people. Only in this way will the full potential of the cypherpunks philosophy be reached. === "Any message posted to cypherpunks via an anonymous remailer gets an automatic +2 on hit points, for it practices what it preaches." -- Anonymous