Chapter 61 12.1 Crypto Anarchy: Encryption Wins

In Tim May's eyes, a digital tape is as powerful and destructive as a weapon, like a shoulder-fired Stinger missile.May was in her forties, with a neat beard and a former physicist.In his hand is a $9.95 Digital Audio Tape (DAT).The cassette -- which is also slightly thicker than a regular cassette -- contains a disc of Mozart with the same fidelity as a traditional digital record. DAT can also be used to store text as easily as music.A disk of DAT bought at Kmart can store about 10,000 books in digital form if the data is compressed well. A DAT can also completely hide a smaller pool of information within the music.Not only can these data be very safely encrypted in the digital tape, but even a powerful computer cannot detect the existence of this data.In the manner proposed by May, the coded information for all the data on a computer hard drive could be hidden on an ordinary digital tape of Michael Jackson's "Thriller."

The hiding method is as follows: DAT stores music in 16-bit binary numbers, but this precision has exceeded the precision of human perception.Therefore, the 16th bit of all music data can be replaced with a long piece of information-for example, an album, a bunch of spreadsheets (encrypted format).And no matter who plays this digital tape, what they hear is still Michael Jackson's crooning, and its digital sound effect is no different from that of the purchased "Thriller" digital tape.The discrepancy can only be found when a computer matches an untouched digital tape with the encrypted digital tape, bit by bit.Even then, because the difference seems random, one would think it was noise from duplicating a digital tape with an analog CD player (which is usually done).Ultimately, only deciphering this "noise" (which is unlikely) can prove that it is not noise.

"This means," May said, "that it is a hopeless endeavor to stop the flow of information across borders. Because anyone who carries a store-bought music cassette with them is likely to carry the Stealth Bomber's computer files with them, And, we didn't notice it at all." One tape contained disco music, and the other contained the core blueprints of disco and key technologies. Music isn't the only way to hide data. "I've used photos too," May said. "I found a digital photo off the Internet, downloaded it into Adobe Photoshop, and inserted an encrypted message into the lowest bit of each pixel. When I reposted the image online , basically exactly the same as the original picture.”

Another thing that fascinates May is anonymous transactions.If we obtain the encryption algorithms developed by the military and transplant them into the vast world of the Internet, then we can establish a very powerful and unbreakable anonymous transaction technology.Two strangers can ask for or provide information to each other, complete the transaction with money, and there is no possibility of being tracked.This is something that the telephone and the post office cannot do safely at present. It's not just spies and organized criminals who are paying attention.Efficient authentication and verification methods, such as smart cards, tamper-resistant networks, and tiny encryption chips, have brought the cost of encryption down to consumer-affordable levels.Crypto is now affordable for everyone.

The result, according to Tim, is the end of business in its current form and the rise of a more sophisticated black market for tax evasion.Tim calls this movement "crypto anarchy." "I have to tell you, I think there's going to be a war between two forces," Tim confided to me, "and one force that wants full disclosure and an end to all the secret deals—that's the government, that wants to go after Cracking down on marijuana smokers and controlling contentious online forums. The other force wants privacy and civil liberties. In this war, encryption is sure to win. Unless governments can successfully ban encryption, which is not the case Possibly, encryption always wins.”

A few years ago, May had written a manifesto that alerted the world to the arrival of widespread encryption.In the e-book, posted online, he warns of a "specter of crypto-anarchy" on the horizon: … Of course countries will try to slow down or stop the spread of this technology, they will say it is because of national security concerns, or drug dealers and tax evaders will use this technology, and people will fear social disintegration.Many of these considerations are valid; crypto-anarchy would enable the free trade of state secrets or illicitly obtained material.There may even be brazen assassination and extortion deals in anonymous online marketplaces.Criminals and foreign powers of all kinds are active users of cryptographic networks.However, this does not stop the proliferation of crypto anarchy.

Just as printing weakened the power of medieval guilds and changed the power structure of society, cryptography will fundamentally change the nature of business and the nature of government interference in economic transactions.The combination of crypto-anarchy and the emerging information market will create a liquid market for all material that can be put into words and pictures.Not only that, but in the same way that the seemingly utterly inconspicuous invention of barbed wire, which sealed off vast ranches and farms from the outside world, forever changed the concept of land and property rights in the Wild West, a certain mystical branch of mathematics arose This seemingly inconspicuous discovery is bound to be the bolt cutter for removing the barbed wire surrounding intellectual property.

... sign: Tim C. May, Crypto Anarchy: Encryption, Digital Currencies, Anonymous Networks, Digital Pseudonyms, Zero Knowledge, Reputation, Information Marketplaces, Black Markets, Government Downfall I once asked Tim May, a retired Intel physicist, about the link between encryption and the breakdown of existing societies.May explained, “The guilds in the Middle Ages monopolized information. For example, if someone wanted to make leather goods or silverware outside the guild, the king’s men would break in and smash them, because the guild was to deliver goods to the king. It was taxed. What broke this monopoly was printing; for people could publish treatises on how to make leather. In the age of printing, corporations were created to monopolize certain specialized technologies, such as the making of guns, or steelmaking. Now, encryption It will eliminate the current corporate monopoly on technical expertise and proprietary knowledge. Companies can no longer keep these things secret because it is so easy to sell information on the Internet.”

According to May, the reason why cryptographic anarchy has not yet broken out is because the key technology of encryption is now monopolized by the military—just like the church once tried to monopolize printing.Almost without exception, encryption technologies are developed by the military for military purposes.It would not be an exaggeration to say that the military is tight-lipped about this technology.The mission of the NSA is to develop cryptographic systems.Unlike other military-industrial alliances that produce civilian by-product technologies, almost none of the technology developed by the NSA has been converted to civilian use.

But who needs encryption anyway?Probably, only those who have something to hide: spies, criminals, and disaffected people.And these people's demand for encryption should be blocked confidently, effectively, and mercilessly. But the situation changed twenty years ago.When the information age comes and intelligence becomes the most important wealth of enterprises, it is no longer the monopoly of the CIA, but the subject of discussion among CEOs.The so-called "espionage" means spying on commercial secrets.Illegal transfer of corporate expertise and skills has become a problem that the state has to pay attention to.

Not only that, but in the last decade, computers have become fast and cheap; encryption no longer requires supercomputers, nor the super-budgets required to run these big machines.A second-hand personal computer of any common brand can handle the enormous amount of calculations required by specialized encryption methods.For small companies that do all their business on personal computers, encryption is the hard drive tool they most need. Over the past few years, thousands of electronic networks have flourished into a highly decentralized web of networks.The so-called network is something that exists in a distributed manner, with no control center and almost no clear boundaries.Without borders, how to protect?It has been found that certain types of encryption are ideal for allowing decentralized systems to retain their flexibility without sacrificing security.In fact, if most members of the network use point-to-point encryption, the network can accommodate all kinds of garbage without having to build a strong security wall to try to keep it out. Suddenly, encryption has become extremely useful to ordinary people who seem to have nothing to hide but their privacy.The point-to-point encryption rooted in the network, married with electronic payment, and tightly bound with daily business transactions, has become a tool like a fax machine and a credit card. And suddenly, the citizens who funded the military's development of encryption technology with their tax dollars wanted to take back ownership of the technology. However, governments (at least the U.S. government) will refuse to give this technology back to the people for a number of inappropriate reasons.So in the summer of 1992, a loose coalition of creative math hackers, civil libertarians, free market advocates, genius programmers, convertible cryptographers, and various other avant-garde people set out to create, piece together Or even steal encryption technology and implant it into the network.They call themselves "cypherpunks". On a few Saturdays in the fall of 1992, I attended the monthly "cypherpunks" conference held by Tim May and about 15 other "cypher rebels" in Palo Alto, California.The meeting took place in an unassuming office building filled with small tech startups.Office buildings like this are everywhere in Silicon Valley.The meeting room is covered with an integrated gray carpet and a conference table.Eric Hughes, the moderator with blond hair and shawl, tried to silence the loud, opinionated voices.He grabbed a pen and scribbled the meeting agenda on the whiteboard.What he wrote echoed Tim May's digital signatures: reputation, PGP encryption, updates to anonymous mail relay servers, and the Diffie-Hellman paper on key exchange. After chatting for a while, the group got down to business.It's time for class.Member Dean Tribble takes to the front to give a report on research on digital reputation.If you're going to do business with someone and all you know is his/her email name, how can you be sure they're legitimate?Tribble's suggestion is that you could buy credit from some sort of "trust escrow" -- a firm, similar to a qualification or securities firm, that vouches for someone, for a fee.He explained the conclusions about circular negotiation games in game theory, such as the Prisoner's Dilemma, and the inspirations derived from them: When the players of the game do not just play the game once, but play the game repeatedly in the same situation, the payoff will increase. changes; in relationships formed through repeated games, credibility is crucial.We discussed the possible problems of online buying and selling reputation, and made suggestions for new research directions.Tribble then sat down and another member stood up to make a brief statement.Discussion proceeds sequentially in this manner. Arthur Abraham, in a black leather jacket with various studs, reviewed some recent papers on encryption.Abraham demonstrated a stack of slides with various equations drawn on the projector, leading everyone through the mathematical proof.Obviously, the math content is not easy for most people.Sitting around the table were programmers (many self-taught), engineers, consultants—all very smart people, but only one with a math background. "What do you mean?" a quiet member asked, even as Abraham spoke. "Oh, I see, you forgot the coefficient", another guy responded. "Is a against x, or a against y?" These amateur cryptographers question every assertion, ask the narrator for clarification, and ponder over and over until everyone gets it right.The hacker's mind, the programmer's urge to do things the best, to find the shortest path, strikes against the academic style of the thesis.Pointing to a large block of equations, Dean asked, "Why not just throw it all away?".Then a voice came from behind: "Good question. I think I know why." Then the man explained, and Dean nodded as he listened.At this point Arthur looked around to see if everyone understood.Then he went on to the next line; and those who understood explained to those who did not.Soon the room was full of voices like "Oh, that means you can provide this functionality on a network setup! Hey, strong!" And just like that, another tool for distributed computing was born; another component from the classified military Under the cover of the Internet, it was transmitted to the open network of the Internet; another brick was added to the pedestal of Internet culture. The group promotes their efforts through the virtual cyberspace of the cypherpunk mailing list.From all over the world, more and more people who are passionate about encryption technology interact through "mailing lists" on the Internet every day. In order to realize their ideas (such as digital signatures) at low cost, they send those Code that's still being written, or discuss the political and ethical implications of what they're doing.There is also an unnamed small group called the Information Liberation Front.They scour expensive (and extremely hard-to-find) journals for academic papers on cryptography, scan them with computers, and post them anonymously online, "freeing" them from copyright restrictions . Posting anonymously online is difficult: the internet is, by its very nature, about tracking everything without error and then copying it indiscriminately.In theory, it is a breeze to trace the source of the message by monitoring the transmission node.In an environment where everything is fundamentally known, crypto-rebels crave true anonymity. I once confessed to Tim my concerns about the potential market for anonymity: "Anonymity is probably the best thing to do for ransom, intimidation, kidnapping, bribery, extortion, insider trading, terrorism." "Well," said Tim , "What about the sale of not-so-legitimate information like marijuana cultivation, self-help abortions, cryonics, etc.? What about the anonymity required for whistleblowers, confessors, and daters?" Crypto rebels argue that digital anonymity is necessary because anonymity is a civic tool as important as legal identity.The post office offers a nice form of anonymity: you don't have to put a return address, and even if you did, the post office doesn't verify it.By and large, phone calls and telegrams (without caller ID) are also anonymous.The Supreme Court upheld the right of everyone to distribute anonymous leaflets and pamphlets.Among those who spend hours each day communicating online, anonymity has taken off.Ted Keller, a programmer for Apple Computer, believes that "our society is in a privacy crisis." In his view, encryption is an extension of institutions like the Post Office across the United States: "We have always valued the privacy of mail. And now, for the first time in history, we don't have to just trust it, we can strengthen it." John Gilmore, a crypto-geek who is a director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said, "Obviously, in the basic There is a social need for anonymity in the medium of communication.” A good society needs more than anonymity.Online civility requires online anonymity, online identity, online authentication, online reputation, online trust, online signature, online privacy, and online access.All of these are essential to an open society.The cypherpunks' plan is to develop tools that provide digital equivalents for real-world relationships; they also distribute these tools for free.By the time this is all done, the cypherpunks hope they've gotten away with handing out free signatures and the opportunity for online anonymity. In an effort to create digital anonymity, the cypherpunks have developed about 15 prototype versions of an anonymous mail relay system that, if executed well, could make it impossible to determine where an e-mail went, even under the scrutiny of communication lines. from where.This mail relay system has now reached a stage where when you use this system to send an email to Ellis, when she receives it, the sender shows "Nobody".Figuring out where the letter came from would be trivial for any computer capable of monitoring the entire network -- but no one could.However, to be mathematically untraceable, at least two mail relay systems act as two repeaters (the more the better) - one of which sends the message to the next system, canceling the message when sending source information. Eric Hughes sees the application of digital pseudo-anonymity (some people know your identity, but others don't). "You can group purchases of certain information through pseudo-anonymity, reducing real costs by orders of magnitude—until it's almost free." Information bulletins, everyone can "borrow" these things from each other through the Internet.The seller has absolutely no way of knowing whether he sold to 1 person or 500.In Hughes' view, these arrangements add flavor to an information-rich society and "enlarge the living space of the poor." "One thing's for sure," says Tim, "in the long run, this stuff is going to destroy tax revenue." I'm going to venture to offer some half-baked ideas that this might be why governments aren't giving this technology back to the people A reason in hand.I also guess: There could be an escalating arms race with the digitized IRS.For every method of concealing transaction records invented by the digital underground, the digital IRS countered it with a new means of surveillance.Tim scoffed at my thoughts: "There's no question that this stuff is unhackable. Encryption wins." It's scary.Because the prevalence of encryption would nullify any hope of central control over economic activity—a force that drives society forward.Encryption exacerbates the runaway state.