diff --git a/cypherpunk-manifesto.txt b/cypherpunk-manifesto.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d4096e9 --- /dev/null +++ b/cypherpunk-manifesto.txt @@ -0,0 +1,104 @@ + A Cypherpunk's Manifesto + + by Eric Hughes + +Privacy is necessary for an open society in the electronic age. +Privacy is not secrecy. A private matter is something one doesn't +want the whole world to know, but a secret matter is something one +doesn't want anybody to know. Privacy is the power to selectively +reveal oneself to the world. + +If two parties have some sort of dealings, then each has a memory of +their interaction. Each party can speak about their own memory of +this; how could anyone prevent it? One could pass laws against it, +but the freedom of speech, even more than privacy, is fundamental to +an open society; we seek not to restrict any speech at all. If many +parties speak together in the same forum, each can speak to all the +others and aggregate together knowledge about individuals and other +parties. The power of electronic communications has enabled such +group speech, and it will not go away merely because we might want it +to. + +Since we desire privacy, we must ensure that each party to a +transaction have knowledge only of that which is directly necessary +for that transaction. Since any information can be spoken of, we +must ensure that we reveal as little as possible. In most cases +personal identity is not salient. When I purchase a magazine at a +store and hand cash to the clerk, there is no need to know who I am. +When I ask my electronic mail provider to send and receive messages, +my provider need not know to whom I am speaking or what I am saying +or what others are saying to me; my provider only need know how to +get the message there and how much I owe them in fees. When my +identity is revealed by the underlying mechanism of the transaction, +I have no privacy. I cannot here selectively reveal myself; I must +_always_ reveal myself. + +Therefore, privacy in an open society requires anonymous transaction +systems. Until now, cash has been the primary such system. An +anonymous transaction system is not a secret transaction system. An +anonymous system empowers individuals to reveal their identity when +desired and only when desired; this is the essence of privacy. + +Privacy in an open society also requires cryptography. If I say +something, I want it heard only by those for whom I intend it. If +the content of my speech is available to the world, I have no +privacy. To encrypt is to indicate the desire for privacy, and to +encrypt with weak cryptography is to indicate not too much desire for +privacy. Furthermore, to reveal one's identity with assurance when +the default is anonymity requires the cryptographic signature. + +We cannot expect governments, corporations, or other large, faceless +organizations to grant us privacy out of their beneficence. It is to +their advantage to speak of us, and we should expect that they will +speak. To try to prevent their speech is to fight against the +realities of information. Information does not just want to be free, +it longs to be free. Information expands to fill the available +storage space. Information is Rumor's younger, stronger cousin; +Information is fleeter of foot, has more eyes, knows more, and +understands less than Rumor. + +We must defend our own privacy if we expect to have any. We must +come together and create systems which allow anonymous transactions +to take place. People have been defending their own privacy for +centuries with whispers, darkness, envelopes, closed doors, secret +handshakes, and couriers. The technologies of the past did not allow +for strong privacy, but electronic technologies do. + +We the Cypherpunks are dedicated to building anonymous systems. We +are defending our privacy with cryptography, with anonymous mail +forwarding systems, with digital signatures, and with electronic +money. + +Cypherpunks write code. We know that someone has to write software +to defend privacy, and since we can't get privacy unless we all do, +we're going to write it. We publish our code so that our fellow +Cypherpunks may practice and play with it. Our code is free for all +to use, worldwide. We don't much care if you don't approve of the +software we write. We know that software can't be destroyed and that +a widely dispersed system can't be shut down. + +Cypherpunks deplore regulations on cryptography, for encryption is +fundamentally a private act. The act of encryption, in fact, removes +information from the public realm. Even laws against cryptography +reach only so far as a nation's border and the arm of its violence. +Cryptography will ineluctably spread over the whole globe, and with +it the anonymous transactions systems that it makes possible. + +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. + +The Cypherpunks are actively engaged in making the networks safer for +privacy. Let us proceed together apace. + +Onward. + +Eric Hughes + + +9 March 1993 +