"The Cyphernomicon" is a document written by Timothy C. May in 1994 for the Cypherpunks electronic mailing list. In a FAQ format, the document outlines some of the ideas behind, and the effects of, crypto-anarchism.[1] It is one of the philosophy's founding documents, advocating electronic privacy and anonymous digital currency. It touches on more esoteric topics, such as assassination markets. It contains May's 1992 essay "The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto" in its entirety.
Author(s): Timothy C. May
Edition: v0.666
Year: 1994
Language: English
Commentary: Bookmarked PDF edition
Pages: 0
Tags: crypto-anarchy
1. Introduction ..................................................... 13
1.1. copyright .................................................... 13
1.2. Foreword ..................................................... 13
1.3. Motivations .................................................. 15
1.4. Who Should Read This ......................................... 16
1.5. Comments on Style and Thoroughness ........................... 16
1.6. Corrections and Elaborations ................................. 18
1.7. Acknowledgements ............................................. 19
1.8. Ideas and Notes (not to be printed) .......................... 19
1.9. Things are moving quickly in crypto and crypto policy ........ 20
1.10. Notes: The Cyphernomicon: the CypherFAQ and More ............ 20
2. MFAQ--Most Frequently Asked Questions ............................ 22
2.1. copyright .................................................... 22
2.2. SUMMARY: MFAQ--Most Frequently Asked Questions ............... 22
2.3. "What's the 'Big Picture'?" .................................. 22
2.4. Organizational ............................................... 23
2.5. Crypto ....................................................... 32
2.6. PGP .......................................................... 39
2.7. Clipper ...................................................... 40
2.8. Other Ciphers and Crypto Products ............................ 41
2.9. Remailers and Anonymity ...................................... 42
2.10. Surveillance and Privacy .................................... 43
2.11. Legal ....................................................... 44
2.12. Digital Cash ................................................ 46
2.13. Crypto Anarchy .............................................. 47
2.14. Miscellaneous ............................................... 51
2.15. More Information and References ............................. 53
3. Cypherpunks -- History, Organization, Agenda ..................... 55
3.1. copyright .................................................... 55
3.2. SUMMARY: Cypherpunks -- History, Organization, Agenda ........ 55
3.3. The Cypherpunks Group and List ............................... 55
3.4. Beliefs, Goals, Agenda ....................................... 59
3.5. Self-organizing Nature of Cypherpunks ........................ 66 3
3.6. Mechanics of the List ........................................ 66
3.7. Publicity .................................................... 67
3.8. Loose Ends ................................................... 68
4. Goals and Ideology -- Privacy, Freedom, New Approaches ........... 69
4.1. copyright .................................................... 69
4.2. SUMMARY: Goals and Ideology -- Privacy, Freedom, New Approaches .................................................................. 69
4.3. Why a Statement of Ideology? ................................. 69
4.4. "Welcome to Cypherpunks" ..................................... 69
4.5. "Cypherpunks Write Code" ..................................... 71
4.6. Technological empowerment .................................... 72
4.7. Free Speech Issues ........................................... 72
4.8. Privacy Issues ............................................... 73
4.9. Education Issues ............................................. 76
4.10. Libertarian Issues .......................................... 77
4.11. Crypto Anarchy .............................................. 79
4.12. Loose Ends .................................................. 81
5. Cryptology ....................................................... 83
5.1. copyright .................................................... 83
5.2. SUMMARY: Cryptology .......................................... 83
5.3. What this FAQ Section Will Not Cover ......................... 84
5.4. Crypto Basics ................................................ 84
5.5. Cryptology-Technical, Mathematical ........................... 98
5.6. Crypto Programs and Products ................................ 104
5.7. Related Ideas ............................................... 105
5.8. The Nature of Cryptology .................................... 110
5.9. Practical Crypto ............................................ 113
5.10. DES ........................................................ 115
5.11. Breaking Ciphers ........................................... 116
5.12. Loose Ends ................................................. 118
6. The Need For Strong Crypto ...................................... 119
6.1. copyright ................................................... 119
6.2. SUMMARY: The Need For Strong Crypto ......................... 119
6.3. General Uses of and Reasons for Crypto ...................... 119 4
6.4. Protection of Corporate and Financial Privacy ............... 125
6.5. Digital Signatures .......................................... 128
6.6. Political Uses of Crypto .................................... 128
6.7. Beyond Good and Evil, or, Why Crypto is Needed .............. 129
6.8. Crypo Needed for Operating Systems and Networks ............. 130
6.9. Ominous Trends .............................................. 131
6.10. Loose Ends ................................................. 131
7. PGP -- Pretty Good Privacy ..................................... 134
7.1. copyright ................................................... 134
7.2. SUMMARY: PGP -- Pretty Good Privacy ........................ 134
7.3. Introduction ................................................ 134
7.4. What is PGP? ................................................ 135
7.5. Importance of PGP ........................................... 135
7.6. PGP Versions ................................................ 136
7.7. Where to Get PGP? ........................................... 139
7.8. How to Use PGP .............................................. 140
7.9. Keys, Key Signings, and Key Servers ......................... 142
7.10. PGP Front Ends, Shells, and Tools .......................... 146
7.11. Other Crypto Programs And Tools ............................ 146
7.12. Legal Issues with PGP ...................................... 150
7.13. Problems with PGP, Flaws, Etc. ............................. 151
7.14. The Future of PGP .......................................... 153
7.15. Loose Ends ................................................. 154
8. Anonymity, Digital Mixes, and Remailers ......................... 155
8.1. copyright ................................................... 155
8.2. SUMMARY: Anonymity, Digital Mixes, and Remailers ............ 155
8.3. Anonymity and Digital Pseudonyms ............................ 156
8.4. Reasons for Anonymity and Digital Pseudonyms (and Untraceable E- ................................................................. 161
Mail) ............................................................ 161
8.5. Untraceable E-Mail .......................................... 176
8.6. Remailers and Digital Mixes (A Large Section!) .............. 177
8.6.1. What are remailers? ...................................... 177
8.6.2. Cypherpunks remailers compared to Julf's .................. 177 5
8.7. Anonymous Posting to Usenet ................................. 194
8.8. Anonymous Message Pools, Newsgroups, etc. ................... 194
8.8.1. "Why do some people use message pools?" ................... 194
8.9. Legal Issues with Remailers ................................. 195
8.10. Cryptanalysis of Remailer Networks ......................... 198
8.11. Dining Cryptographers ...................................... 201
8.12. Future Remailers ........................................... 202
8.13. Loose Ends ................................................. 204
9. Policy: Clipper,Key Escrow, and Digital Telephony ............... 206
9.1. copyright ................................................... 206
9.2. SUMMARY: Policy: Clipper,Key Escrow, and Digital Telephony .. 206
9.3. Introduction ................................................ 206
9.4. Crypto Policy Issues ........................................ 207
9.5. Motivations for Crypto Laws ................................. 208
9.6. Current Crypto Laws ......................................... 210
9.7. Crypto Laws Outside the U.S. ................................ 211
9.8. Digital Telephony ........................................... 214
9.9. Clipper, Escrowed Encyption Standard ........................ 216
9.10. Technical Details of Clipper, Skipjack, Tessera, and EES ... 217
9.11. Products, Versions -- Tessera, Skipjack, etc. .............. 220
9.12. Current Status of EES, Clipper, etc. ....................... 220
9.13. National Information Infrastructure, Digital Superhighway .. 220
9.14. Government Interest in Gaining Control of Cyberspace ....... 222
9.15. Software Key Escrow ........................................ 223
9.16. Politics, Opposition ....................................... 224
9.17. Legal Issues with Escrowed Encryption and Clipper .......... 230
9.18. Concerns ................................................... 231
9.19. Loose Ends ................................................. 235
10. Legal Issues ................................................... 237
10.1. copyright .................................................. 237
10.2. SUMMARY: Legal Issues ...................................... 237
10.3. Basic Legality of Encryption ............................... 237
10.4. Can Crypto be Banned? ...................................... 243
10.5. Legal Issues with PGP ...................................... 246 6
10.6. Legal Issues with Remailers ................................ 246
10.7. Legal Issues with Escrowed Encryption and Clipper .......... 249
10.8. Legal Issues with Digital Cash ............................. 251
10.9. Legality of Digital Banks and Digital Cash? ................ 254
10.10. Export of Crypto, ITAR, and Similar Laws .................. 255
10.11. Regulatory Arbitrage ...................................... 259
10.12. Crypto and Pornography .................................... 259
10.13. Usenet, Libel, Local Laws, Jurisdictions, etc. ............ 260
10.14. Emergency Regulations ..................................... 260
10.15. Patents and Copyrights .................................... 261
10.16. Practical Issues .......................................... 262
10.17. Free Speech is Under Assault .............................. 263
10.18. Systems, Access, and the Law .............................. 264
10.19. Credentials ............................................... 265
10.20. Escrow Agents ............................................. 266
10.21. Loose Ends ................................................ 267
11. Surveillance, Privacy, And Intelligence Agencies ............... 274
11.1. copyright .................................................. 274
11.2. SUMMARY: Surveillance, Privacy, And Intelligence Agencies .. 274
11.3. Surveillance and Privacy ................................... 274
11.4. U.S. Intelligence Agencies: NSA, FinCEN, CIA, DIA, NRO, FBI 282
11.5. Surveillance in Other Countries ............................ 285
11.6. Surveillance Methods and Technology ........................ 286
11.7. Surveillance Targets ....................................... 290
11.8. Legal Issues ............................................... 292
11.9. Dossiers and Data Bases .................................... 292
11.10. Police States and Informants .............................. 293
11.11. Privacy Laws .............................................. 294
11.12. National ID Systems ....................................... 296
11.13. National Health Care System Issues ........................ 298
11.14. Credentials ............................................... 299
11.15. Records of all UseNet postings ............................ 301
11.16. Effects of Surveillance on the Spread of Crypto ........... 302
11.17. Loose Ends ................................................ 303 7
12. Digital Cash and Net Commerce .................................. 305
12.1. copyright .................................................. 305
12.2. SUMMARY: Digital Cash and Net Commerce ..................... 305
12.3. The Nature of Money ........................................ 305
12.4. Smart Cards ................................................ 308
12.5. David Chaum's "DigiCash" ................................... 308
12.6. Online and Offline Clearing, Double Spending ............... 311
12.7. Uses for Digital Cash ...................................... 313
12.8. Other Digital Money Systems ................................ 315
12.9. Legal Issues with Digital Cash ............................. 319
12.10. Prospects for Digital Cash Use ............................ 323
12.11. Commerce on the Internet .................................. 327
12.12. Cypherpunks Experiments ("Magic Money") ................... 328
12.13. Practical Issues and Concerns with Digital Cash ........... 330
12.14. Cyberspace and Digital Money .............................. 331
12.15. Outlawing of Cash ......................................... 331
12.16. Novel Opportunities ....................................... 333
12.17. Loose Ends ................................................ 334
13. Activism and Projects .......................................... 336
13.1. copyright .................................................. 336
13.2. SUMMARY: Activism and Projects ............................. 336
13.3. Activism is a Tough Job .................................... 336
13.4. Cypherpunks Projects ....................................... 337
13.5. Responses to Our Projects (Attacks, Challenges) ............ 345
13.5.1. "What are the likely attitudes toward mainstream Cypherpunks ................................................................. 345
13.6. Deploying Crypto ........................................... 346
13.7. Political Action and Opposition ............................ 349
13.8. The Battle Lines are Being Drawn ........................... 355
13.10. Deals, the EFF, and Digital Telephony Bill ................ 357
13.11. Loose ends ................................................ 357
14. Other Advanced Crypto Applications ............................. 361
14.1. copyright .................................................. 361
14.2. SUMMARY: Other Advanced Crypto Applications ................ 361 8
14.3. Digital Timestamping ....................................... 361
14.4. Voting ..................................................... 362
14.5. Timed-Release Crypto ....................................... 362
14.6. Traffic Analysis ........................................... 364
14.7. Steganography .............................................. 364
14.8. Hiding cyphertext .......................................... 366
14.9. 'What are tamper-responding or tamper-resistant modules?" .. 366
14.9.1. The more modern name for what used to be called "tamper-proof ................................................................. 366
14.10. Whistleblowing ............................................ 367
14.11. Digital Confessionals ..................................... 367
14.12. Loose Ends ................................................ 367
15. Reputations and Credentials .................................... 368
15.1. copyright .................................................. 368
15.2. SUMMARY: Reputations and Credentials ....................... 368
15.3. The Nature of Reputations .................................. 368
15.4. Reputations, Institutions .................................. 370
15.5. Reputation-Based Systems and Agoric Open Systems ........... 370
15.6. Reputations and Evolutionary Game Theory ................... 371
15.7. Positive Reputations ....................................... 371
15.8. Practical Examples ......................................... 372
15.9. Credentials and Reputations ................................ 373
15.10. Fraud and False Accusations ............................... 373
15.11. Loose Ends ................................................ 374
16. Crypto Anarchy ................................................. 375
16.1. copyright .................................................. 375
16.2. SUMMARY: Crypto Anarchy .................................... 375
16.3. Introduction ............................................... 375
16.4. The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto ............................. 377
16.5. Changes are Coming ......................................... 379
16.6. Free Speech and Liberty--The Effects of Crypto ............. 382
16.7. The Nature of Anarchies .................................... 383
16.8. The Nature of Crypto Anarchy ............................... 384
16.9. Uses of Crypto Anarchy ..................................... 385 9
16.10. The Implications-Negative and Positive-of Crypto Anarchy .. 385
16.11. Ethics and Morality of Crypto Anarchy ..................... 392
16.12. Practical Problems with Crypto Anarchy .................... 394
16.13. Black Markets ............................................. 395
16.14. Money Laundering and Tax Avoidance ........................ 400
16.15. Intellectual Property ..................................... 412
16.16. Markets for Contract Killings, Extortion, etc. ............ 413
16.17. Persistent Institutions ................................... 414
16.18. Organized Crime: Triads, Yakuza, Mafia, etc. .............. 418
16.19. Privately Produced Law, Polycentric Law, Anarcho-Capitalism 419
16.20. Libertaria in Cyberspace .................................. 422
16.21. Cyberspace, private spaces, enforcement of rules, and technology ............................. 422
16.22. Data Havens ............................................... 424
16.23. Undermining Governments--Collapse of the State ............ 429
16.24. Escrow Agents and Reputations ............................. 433
16.25. Predictions vs. Implications .............................. 435
16.26. How Crypto Anarchy Will Be Fought ......................... 436
16.27. How Crypto Anarchy Advocates Will Fight Back .............. 444
16.28. Things that May Hide the Existence of Crypto Anarchy ...... 445
16.29. The Coming Phase Change ................................... 454
16.30. Loose Ends ................................................ 456
17. The Future ..................................................... 458
17.1. copyright .................................................. 458
17.2. SUMMARY: The Future ........................................ 458
17.3. Progress Needed ............................................ 458
17.4. Future Directions .......................................... 459
17.5. Net of the Future .......................................... 462
17.6. The Effects of Strong Crypto on Society .................... 463
17.7. New Software Tools and Programming Frameworks .............. 464
17.8. Complexity ................................................. 468
17.9. Crypto Standards ........................................... 469
17.10. Crypto Research ........................................... 470
17.11. Crypto Armageddon? Cryptageddon? .......................... 471 10
17.14. Loose Ends ................................................ 474
18. Loose Ends and Miscellaneous Topics ............................ 475
18.1. copyright .................................................. 475
18.2. SUMMARY: Loose Ends and Miscellaneous Topics ............... 475
18.3. Quantum Cryptography ....................................... 475
18.4. Chaotic Cryptography ....................................... 476
18.5. Neural Nets and AI in Crypto ............................... 476
18.6. Miscellaneous Advanced Crypto Ideas ........................ 477
18.7. Viruses and Crypto ......................................... 478
18.8. Making Money in Crypto ..................................... 479
18.9. The Net .................................................... 479
18.10. Duress Switches, Dead Man Switches ........................ 480
18.11. Can Encryption be Detected? ............................... 481
18.12. Personal Digital Assistants, Newtons, etc. ................ 481
18.13. Physical Security ......................................... 481
18.14. Attacking Governments ..................................... 482
18.15. Cypherpunks List Issues ................................... 482
18.16. Tamper-Resistant Modules .................................. 482
18.17. Deeper Connections ........................................ 482
18.18. Loose End Loose Ends ...................................... 483
19. Appendices ..................................................... 486
19.1. copyright .................................................. 486
19.2. SUMMARY: Appendices ........................................ 486
19.3. Appendix -- Sites, Addresses, URL/Web Sites, Etc. .......... 486
19.4. Appendix -- Glossary ....................................... 489
19.5. Appendix -- Summary of Crypto Versions ..................... 500
19.6. Appendix -- References ..................................... 508
19.7. Glossary Items ............................................. 510
19.8. A comment on software versions, ftp sites, instructions, etc. ................................................................. 510
19.8.1. I regret that I can't be complete in all versions, platforms ................................................................. 510
20. README ......................................................... 512
20.1. copyright .................................................. 512 11
20.2. README--BRIEF VERSION ...................................... 512
20.3. Copyright Comments ......................................... 512
20.4. A Few Words on the Style ................................... 513
20.5. How to Find Information .................................... 514
20.6. My Views ................................................... 515
20.7. More detailed disclaimer ................................... 515
