Cyber Anarchy or Crypto Anarchy

Deals with the possibility of carving out space for activities outside the purview of nation states. This controversial issue seems relevant at the present time, given the probable role played by encrypted satellites in the September 11, 2001, World Trade Center and Pentagon terrorist attacks and the necessity to consider future strategic needs to prevent mass destruction of targeted nations.

The word anarchy, which derives from Greek, literally means the absence of government. In 1840, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, a French economist and socialist philosopher, was the first person to name himself as an anarchist—someone who maintains that authority-based political organization should be replaced by voluntarily agreed–upon social and economic organization.

A book by Peter Ludlow, a State University of New York philosophy professor, details the many facets of cyber anarchy or crypto anarchy. Entitled CryptoAnarchy, Cyberstates, and Pirate Utopias (MIT Press, 2001), the book offers a collection of writings on these issues and includes reactions to various crypto anarchy plans—with details on utopian and anarchist manifestos, discussions on law and jurisdictions, and a variety of key issues at the center of the public debate surrounding the Internet and cyberspace. Ludlow’s 1996 book High Noon on the Electronic Frontier addresses issues such as property rights, privacy, community, and identity.

See Also: Cryptography or “Crypto”; Internet; Privacy.