Catching Up to Crypto

CHAPTER 3First‐Gen Giants: Cypherpunks and Disruptive Tech

The internet that we know and love today wouldn't be possible without cryptography, which keeps information secure as it travels around the web. Without cryptography, hackers would have easy access to all of our email and social media messages, making financial applications like online banking entirely impossible. Even credit card payments require advanced cryptography to ensure that the information is seen by only the intended recipient. Back in the early days of the internet, however, this was one of the most controversial aspects of the new technology. Government agencies, especially in the United States, had grown accustomed to easily searching through mail and phone calls to gather intelligence on criminals and innocent citizens alike. The idea of people being able to encrypt their communications online terrified governments and threatened one of their most important sources of control – information. The US government actually classified cryptography as a “munition of war” because having the edge in developing or cracking cryptographic messages can tip the scales during times of war. The US government and its allies had the strongest encryption in the world at the time, and they wanted things to stay that way.¹

Experts in computing knew that encryption was going to be an essential safeguard for internet users as the technology became more mainstream. Though the US government agreed with this in theory, it also ...