The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto
Year First Appeared
1988
Creator
Timothy C. May
A 1988 manifesto by Timothy C. May outlining how advances in cryptography would enable anonymous communications and electronic commerce, making interactions untraceable and undermining traditional government regulation and control.
Importance in Internet Culture
May’s manifesto gave the cypherpunk movement its name and rallying vision, directly influencing the development of PGP, anonymous remailers, Tor, and the conceptual underpinnings of Bitcoin.
Interesting Fact
May wrote the entire manifesto in about an hour and a half on a Macintosh Plus, and the original copies were hand‑photocopied for the Crypto ’88 attendees before it ever appeared online.