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Tim May, Father of 'Crypto Anarchy,' Is Dead At 67 (reason.com)
Tim May, co-founder of the influential Cypherpunks mailing list and a significant influence on both bitcoin and WikiLeaks, passed away in mid-December at his home in Corralitos, California. The news was announced last Saturday on a Facebook post written by his friend Lucky Green. Long-time Slashdot reader SonicSpike quotes Reason:
In his influential 1988 essay, "The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto," May predicted that advances in computer technology would eventually allow "individuals and groups to communicate and interact with each other" anonymously and without government intrusion. "These developments will alter completely the nature of government regulation [and] the ability to tax and control economic interactions," he wrote... Running 497 words, it was his most influential piece of writing... May became convinced that public-key cryptography combined with networked computing would break apart social power structures...
In September 1992, May and his friends Eric Hughes and Hugh Daniels came up with the idea of setting up an online mailing list to discuss their ideas. Within a few days of its launch, a hundred people had signed up for the Cypherpunks mailing list. (The group's name was coined by Hughes' girlfriend as a play on the "cyberpunk" genre of fiction.) By 1997, it averaged 30 messages daily with about 2,000 subscribers. May was its most prolific contributor. May and Hughes, along with free speech activist John Gilmore, wore masks on the cover of the second issue of Wired magazine accompanying a profile by journalist Steven Levy, who described the Cypherpunks as "more a gathering of those who share a predilection for codes, a passion for privacy, and the gumption to do something about it...."
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was an active reader and participant on the list, contributing his first posts in 1995 under the name "Proff."
The article notes that May "recently expressed disgust with the current state of the cryptocurrency community, citing its overpriced conferences and the advent of 'bitcoin exchanges that have draconian rules about KYC, AML, passports, freezes on accounts and laws about reporting 'suspicious activity' to the local secret police.'"
In his last published interview he told CoinDesk "I think Satoshi would barf."
In September 1992, May and his friends Eric Hughes and Hugh Daniels came up with the idea of setting up an online mailing list to discuss their ideas. Within a few days of its launch, a hundred people had signed up for the Cypherpunks mailing list. (The group's name was coined by Hughes' girlfriend as a play on the "cyberpunk" genre of fiction.) By 1997, it averaged 30 messages daily with about 2,000 subscribers. May was its most prolific contributor. May and Hughes, along with free speech activist John Gilmore, wore masks on the cover of the second issue of Wired magazine accompanying a profile by journalist Steven Levy, who described the Cypherpunks as "more a gathering of those who share a predilection for codes, a passion for privacy, and the gumption to do something about it...."
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was an active reader and participant on the list, contributing his first posts in 1995 under the name "Proff."
The article notes that May "recently expressed disgust with the current state of the cryptocurrency community, citing its overpriced conferences and the advent of 'bitcoin exchanges that have draconian rules about KYC, AML, passports, freezes on accounts and laws about reporting 'suspicious activity' to the local secret police.'"
In his last published interview he told CoinDesk "I think Satoshi would barf."
Daniel, not Daniels.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
There are not many people I've met who trusted government less than I do. Tim and Hugh are the first two who spring to mind.
Tim did a lot of good for his friends, for our industry, and for our freedom. Very sad to see him go.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Visionary, but like a lot of those types they don't understand inertia and how greed and control will eventually win out. We could have had decentralized services a long time ago, but they weren't profitable enough. In 2018 the Internet is more centralized than ever before. Eventually it will become just another system, like cable TV. You will have your issued "internet access device" and will only run approved services and software and be fully monitored. Most internet access is like that already (mobile devices).
Not only will cryptocurrency bankrupt you, cryptography in general will shave 11 years off your life! Avoid anything related to privacy at all costs - it WILL kill you!
Signed, The Powers That Be
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
8ItgPz8ZHLRsj1RhEMlTXAu1d9fJMYNb69K8SNxR0DxETKzBOWZV8h4ERBwvCZzlzxRUDiJhigGY/LJ1zADy8w== :-)
How did he expect exchanges to avoid playing ball with governments if they wanted access to electronic real currency transfer? He seemed oblivious to the true power of government to me. Life is not lived online, you can't route every interaction through hidden channels ... they'll always catch you at the edges to tax/regulate you.
The Gettysburg address was 272 words.
We could have had decentralized services a long time ago, but they weren't profitable enough.
Which often translates as slow, limited, unreliable and difficult to use. Which is why the commercial, centralized, services succeed. Click on Netflix and the movie plays across all devices.
Nope they aren't catching everything. I'm sure you are fine.
Embedded developers were furious with the anti-TiVo provisions themselves.
Visionary? Perhaps. Or perhaps he was just slightly paranoid and obsessive about imagined attempts to control him. The truth is rarely black or white, but nuanced shades of grey. Just look at the quote listed in the summary:
'...bitcoin exchanges that have draconian rules about KYC, AML, passports, freezes on accounts and laws about reporting 'suspicious activity' to the local secret police.'
For those who aren't versed in financial acronyms, KYC is 'Know you customer', AML is 'Anti-money laundering'. While he is decrying financial organizations trying to pry about personal information, and restricting how money is used, those same rules are stopping drug cartels, sex-traffickers, international fraud rings, illicit arms dealers, and a whole slew of other really terrible people from being able to hide their profits from the people who are trying to stop them, the 'local secret police'. His views seem a little short sighted and selfish to me.
Yeah, privacy and freedom are important, but there is a trade off that needs to be made to have a society that functions. Some degree of freedom and privacy needs to be sacrificed in the name of order. The only true freedom is Anarchy, and that only lasts until someone figures out that they can murder anyone who doesn't do what they are told.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
Even if messaging is decentralized, how can finding someone to message in the first place be decentralized?
Tox is decentralised, utilises DHT.
Let me rephrase: Once a user has installed Tox, how would he go about finding other Tox users to message?