Cyphernomicon Index
Cyphernomicon 16.16

Crypto Anarchy:
Markets for Contract Killings, Extortion, etc.


  16.16.1. Note: This is a sufficiently important topic that it deserves
            its own heading. There's material on this scattered around
            this document, material I'll collect together when I get a
            chance.
  16.16.2. This topic came up several times on then Extropians mailing
            list, where David Friedman (author of "The Machinery of
            Freedom" and son of Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman) and
            Robin Hanson debated this with me.
  16.16.3. Doug Cutrell summarized the concerns of many when he wrote:
           - "...the availability of truly secure anonymity, strong
              encryption, and untraceable digital cash could allow
              contract killing to be an openly conducted business.  For
              example, an anonymous news post announces a public key
              which is to be used to encode a contract kill order, along
              with a digital cash payment.  The person placing the
              contract need only anonymously place the encrypted message
              in alt.test.  Perhaps it is even possible to make it
              impossible to tell that the message was encrypted with the
              contract killer's public key (the killer would have to
              attempt decryption of all similarly encoded messages on
              alt.test, but that might be quite feasible).  Thus it could
              be completely risk free for anyone to place a contract on
              anyone else." [Doug Cutrell, 1994-09-09]
  16.16.4. Abhorrent markets
           - contract killings
           - can collect money anonymously to have someone
              whacked...nearly anyone who is controversial can generate
              enough "contributions"
           - kidnapping, extortion
  16.16.5. Dealing with Such Things:
           + never link physical ID with pseudonyms! (they won't kill
              you if they don't know who you are)
             - and even if one pseudonym is linked, make sure your
                financial records are not linkable
           - trust no one
           - increased physical security...make the effort of killing
              much more potentially dangerous
           - flooding attacks..tell extortionists to "get in line"
              behind all the other extortionists
           + announce to world that one does not pay extortionists...set
              up protocol to ensure this
             - yes, some will die as a result of this
           - console yourself with the fact that though some may die,
              fewer are dying as a result of state-sponsored wars and
              terrorism (historically a bigger killer than contract
              killings!)


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