Cypherpunks will make the networks safe for privacy.
Predictor: Hughes, Eric
Prediction, in context:In a 1993 article for Wired magazine, Steven Levy writes about encryption, quoting cryptoactivist Eric Hughes of the Cypherpunks. Levy writes: ”It would be wrong to think of Cypherpunks as a formal group. It’s more a gathering of those who share a predilection for codes, a passion for privacy, and the gumption to do something about it. Anyone who decides to spread personal crypto or its gospel is a traveler in the territory of Cypherpunk. The real action in that realm occurs via The List, an electronic posting ground which commonly generates more than 50 messages a day. People on The List receive the messages on their Internet mailboxes and can respond. The List is sort of a perpetual conversation pit from which gossip is exchanged, schemes are hatched, fantasies are outlined, and code is swapped. The modus operandi of Cypherpunks is a familiar one to hackers – If You Build It, They Will Come. As Eric Hughes posted on The List: ‘Cypherpunks write code. They know that someone has to write code to defend privacy, and since it’s their privacy they’re going to write it… ”‘Cypherpunks don’t care if you don’t like the software they write. ”‘Cypherpunks know that software can’t be destroyed. ”‘Cypherpunks know that a widely dispersed system can’t be shut down. ”‘Cypherpunks will make the networks safe for privacy.'”
Biography:Eric Hughes co-founded the Cypherpunks with John Gilmore and Tim May. This group included cryptographers, privacy advocates and digital anarchists. They were known for a densely written e-mail list generating megabytes of issue-oriented scientific discussion weekly. He was the author of the Cypherpunk Manifesto. (Research Scientist/Illuminator.)
Date of prediction: May 1, 1993
Topic of prediction: Communication
Subtopic: Security/Encryption
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: Crypto Rebels
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.02/crypto.rebels_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney