The Four Horsemen

Timothy C. May tcmay at netcom.com
Sun Dec 11 13:45:02 PST 1994


Mats Bergstrom wrote:

> >From the recent essay "Anarchy" by T.C. May:
> 
>     The use of encryption by "evil" groups, such as 
>     child pornographers, terrorists, abortionists, abor-
>     tion protestors, etc., is cited by those who wish to 
>     limit civilian access to crypto tools. We call these the 
>     "Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse", as they are so 
>     often cited as the reason why ordinary citizen-units 
>     of the nation-state are not to have access to crypto.
> 
> A problem with the Four Horsemen is the various definitions
> currently in use on the Net. Two of them are generally agreed 
> upon: Drug Dealer and Terrorist. Usually either Pedophile or 
> Pornographer is the third. The fourth varies the most: Tax
> Evader, Spy etc. Abortionist and Abortionist-Killer are new
> prospects.
> 
> Who were the Original Four? (No, I'm not asking about White,

I probably should have been more careful in explicitly listing the
"main candidates" for the Four Horsemen:

- Terrorists

- Drug Dealers

- Money Launderers

- Child Pornographers

Others may have different lists, but these are the main "threats"
suggested by most. My reference to "abortionists, abortion protestors"
was to show that _both_ sides of the issue consider the other side to be
a threat.

--Tim May


-- 
..........................................................................
Timothy C. May         | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,  
tcmay at 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: 2^859433 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available.
Cypherpunks list: majordomo at toad.com with body message of only: 
subscribe cypherpunks. FAQ available at ftp.netcom.com in pub/tc/tcmay







More information about the cypherpunks-legacy mailing list