A Political History of DAOs

The Cypherpunks were united by a belief that people should be able to live free from state interference in private matters, and a conviction that this freedom could be achieved through the use of digital encryption technology that allowed people to communicate without being surveilled.

Public key cryptography, or the use of encryption to secure information against unwanted access by third parties, was discovered in 1973. Research on and access to encryption technologies were highly embargoed.

Digital encryption is a fundamentally political security technology, and a site of struggle for privacy, freedom, and democracy that scholar Linda Monsees has termed “Crypto Politics.”

The Cypherpunks were interested in harnessing cryptographic tools to build anonymous communication networks and markets without government censorship.

A PRE-HISTORY OF THE CYPHERPUNKS:

“Instead of a hierarchical structure managed by a set of humans interacting in person and controlling property via the legal system, a decentralized organization involves a set of humans interacting with each other according to a protocol specified in code, and enforced on the blockchain,” Buterin wrote in 2014.

In 1975, the government introduced the Data Encryption Standard, a national encryption standard for public and commercial use. Thus limiting citizens’ access to cryptography knowledge and tools. This is part of a decades-long battle over data privacy known as the “Crypto Wars.”

Engineer Paul Baran made a number of breakthroughs that are relevant to the public, decentralized technologies to this day, including “message blocks” (a component in blockchain technology) and advocacy for private digital networks via cryptography.

So, pursued the development of decentralized, cryptographically secure digital infrastructure.