1st Edition
Cypherpunk Ethics Radical Ethics for the Digital Age
Cypherpunk Ethics explores the moral worldview of the cypherpunks, a movement that advocates the use of strong digital cryptography—or crypto, for short—to defend individual privacy and promote institutional transparency in the digital age.
Focusing on the writings of Timothy May and Julian Assange, two of the most prolific and influential cypherpunks, the book examines two competing paradigms of cypherpunk philosophy—crypto anarchy and crypto justice—and examines the implications of cypherpunk ethics for a range of contemporary moral issues, including surveillance, privacy, whistleblowing, cryptocurrencies, journalism, democracy, censorship, intellectual property, and power.
Rooted in theory but with very real applications, this volume will appeal not only to students and scholars of digital media, communication, journalism, philosophy, political science, critical data studies, sociology, and the history of technology but also to technologists and activists around the world.
Preface
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
Privacy for the Weak, Transparency for the Powerful
Hackers, Cyberpunks, and Cypherpunks
Toward a Cypherpunk Ethics
2. Crypto!
Introduction
A Brief Introduction to Cryptography
The Public Key Crypto Revolution
Digital Crypto as a Convivial Tool
Conclusion
3. Cypherpunk Meta-Ethics
Introduction
Timothy May’s Crypto Anarchy
Julian Assange’s Crypto Justice
Conclusion
4. Cypherpunk Theories of the State
Introduction
Crypto Anarchy and Libertarian Society
Crypto Justice and the Cybernetic State
Conclusion
5. Privacy for the Weak
Introduction
Data, Surveillance, Crypto
Anarchy, Justice, Privacy
Cryptocurrencies as Anarchist Cash
Conclusion
6. Transparency for the Powerful
Introduction
Information, Markets, and Information Markets
WikiLeaks I: Leaks and Conspiracies
WikiLeaks II: Scientific Journalism
Conclusion
7. Information Wants to be Free
Introduction
On Censorship
On “Intellectual Property”
On Free Software and Open Access
Conclusion
8. Conclusion
A Tale of Two Cryptographers
Toward a Convivial Future
References
Index
Biography
Patrick D. Anderson is Assistant Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Humanities at Central State University, USA, and editor-in-chief of the WikiLeaks Bibliography.
