AlterBot: robot Removing: de:Cypherpunk, fr:Cypherpunk

2008-10-06T07:09:49Z

robot Removing: de:Cypherpunk, fr:Cypherpunk

Quick edit guy: New page: The '''cypherpunks''' comprise an informal group of people interested in privacy and cryptography who originally communicated through the cypherpunks mailing list. The aim of ...

2008-09-22T16:20:56Z

New page: The '''cypherpunks''' comprise an informal group of people interested in privacy and cryptography who originally communicated through the cypherpunks mailing list. The aim of ...

New page

The '''cypherpunks''' comprise an informal group of people interested in [[privacy]] and [[cryptography]] who originally communicated through the cypherpunks [[mailing list]]. The aim of the group was to achieve privacy and security through proactive use of cryptography. Events such as the [[GURPS Cyberpunk]] raid lent weight to the idea that private individuals needed to take steps themselves to protect their privacy. In its heyday, the list discussed the public policy issues related to cryptography, as well as more practical nuts-and-bolts mathematical, computational, technological, and cryptographic matters themselves.

A ''coderpunks'' list, open by invitation only, existed for a time. ''Coderpunks'' took up more technical matters and had less discussion of public policy implications.

The term ''cypherpunk'', derived from ''[[cipher]]'' and ''[[Punk ideology|punk]]'', was coined by [[Jude Milhon]] as a pun to describe [[cyberpunk]]s who used cryptography. <ref>[http://cypherpunks.venona.com/date/1995/01/msg00743.html Re: Jude Milhon in WIRED]</ref> In November 2006, the word was proposed for inclusion in the [[Oxford English Dictionary]]<ref>[http://www.resourceshelf.com/2006/09/17/oxford-english-dictionary-updates-some-entries-bada-bing-cypherpunk-and-wi-fi-now-in-the-oed/ ResourceShelf Â» Oxford English Dictionary Updates Some Entries & Adds New Words; Bada-Bing, Cypherpunk, and Wi-Fi Now in the OED]</ref>. The Cypherpunks included several notable computer industry figures.

Many cypherpunks are [[anarcho-capitalists]].<ref>Bennett, James C. 2007. The Anglosphere Challenge: Why the English-Speaking Nations Will Lead. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 138.</ref>

== History ==

The mailing list's best days have been behind it for some time, having peaked around 1997. A number of current systems in use trace their roots to this time, including [[Pretty Good Privacy]], [[/dev/random]] in the [[Linux kernel]] (the actual code has been completely reimplemented several times since then) and today's [[anonymous remailer]]s.

The cypherpunk mailing list was originally hosted on toad.com, but after a falling out with the sysop over moderation, the list was migrated to several cross-linked mail-servers in what was called the "distributed mailing list".<ref>[http://cypherpunks.venona.com/date/1997/01/msg02001.html Re: Sandy and the Doc]</ref><ref>[http://cypherpunks.venona.com/date/1997/02/msg00627.html Newgroup - distributed mailing list on the way?]</ref> Toad.com continued to run with the existing subscriber list, those that didn't unsubscribe, and was mirrored on the new distributed mailing list, but messages from the distributed list didn't appear on toad.com.<ref>[http://cypherpunks.venona.com/date/1997/02/msg02277.html Switching to full traffic mode]</ref> As the list faded in popularity, so too did it fade in the number of cross-linked subscription nodes. As of 2007, the only remaining node is at al-qaeda.net, and list traffic is at best intermittent and even then, sparse.

For a time, the cypherpunks mailing list was a popular tool with mailbombers<ref>[http://cypherpunks.venona.com/date/1997/02/msg01681.html Re: POST: The Frightening Dangers of Moderation]</ref>, who would subscribe a victim to the mailing list. This precipitated the mailing list sysop(s) to institute a reply to subscribe system. It is important to note that approximately two hundred messages a day was typical for the mailing list, divided between personal arguments and attacks, political discussion, technical discussion, and early spam<ref>[http://cypherpunks.venona.com/date/1997/01/msg02533.html Re: Re: Add To Your Monthly Income!!]</ref><ref>[http://cypherpunks.venona.com/date/1997/04/ Cypherpunks Date Index for 1997 04]</ref>.

== Other uses ==

''Cypherpunk'', ''cypherpunks'' or ''cpunks'' are also occasionally used as a username and password on websites which require registration, especially if the user does not intend to return or does not wish to reveal information about himself. The account is left for later users. As of 2007, username "cypherpunks01" with password "cypherpunks01" seems to be one of the few of these "public use accounts" which seems to be widely available.

==Citations==
{{reflist|2}}

== Some well known cypherpunks ==
* [[Jon Callas]] (Technical lead on [[OpenPGP]] specification and Chief Technical Officer of [[PGP Corporation]])
* [[Hugh Daniel]] (Former manager of the [[FreeS/WAN]] project)
* [[John Gilmore (activist)|John Gilmore]] (One of the founders of the [[Electronic Frontier Foundation]])
* [[Ian Goldberg]] (Assistant Professor, University of Waterloo, designer of the [[Off-the-Record Messaging]] protocol)
* [[Lucky Green]] (Author of first free software implementation of ring signatures)
* Eric Hughes (Author of ''[http://www.activism.net/cypherpunk/manifesto.html A Cypherpunk's Manifesto]'')
* [[Timothy C. May|Tim May]] (Former chief scientist at [[Intel]], author of A [[Crypto Anarchist]] Manifesto)
* [[Jude Milhon]] (A founding member of the cypherpunks)
* [[Sameer Parekh]] (former CEO of [[C2Net]])
* [[Len Sassaman]] (Current maintainer of the [[Mixmaster_anonymous_remailer|Mixmaster Remailer]] software)
* [[Peter Shipley]] (A founding member of the cypherpunks)
* [[Philip Zimmermann]] (Creator of [[Pretty Good Privacy|PGP]])

==See also==

{{Portal|Cryptography|Crypto_key.svg}}

* [[Anonymous P2P]]
* [[Cypherpunk anonymous remailer]]
* [[Crypto: How the Code Rebels Beat the Government Saving Privacy in the Digital Age]]
* [[Crypto-anarchism]]

==External links==
* http://www.activism.net/cypherpunk/manifesto.html - ''A Cypherpunk's Manifesto'' written by Eric Hughes.
* http://www.activism.net/cypherpunk/crypto-anarchy.html - ''The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto'' written by [[Timothy C. May]].
* http://lateclaindomita.bravehost.com/cyber.html - Spanish translation of ''A Cypherpunk's Manifesto'' translated by RaÃºl Racedo, Argentina.
* http://www.swiss.ai.mit.edu/6805/articles/crypto/cypherpunks/cyphernomicon/CP-FAQ - ''The Cyphernomicon'' by [[Timothy C. May]] ("Cypherpunks FAQ and More" from 1994! Need serious updating.)
* http://cypherpunks.venona.com - Archives of the first eight years of the mailing list.
* http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:HdLL3arryzwJ:www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,55114,00.html+%22Warm+Party+for+a+Code+Group Cypherpunks 10 year anniversary (Article in Wired)
* http://www.xml-dev.com/lurker/message/20061106.155725.b158c80a.en.html Cypherpunks make the [[Oxford English Dictionary]].

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Cypherpunk - Revision history

AlterBot: robot Removing: de:Cypherpunk, fr:Cypherpunk

Quick edit guy: New page: The '''cypherpunks''' comprise an informal group of people interested in privacy and cryptography who originally communicated through the cypherpunks mailing list. The aim of ...