Sean Hastings (born 1969) is an entrepreneur, [1] cypherpunk author, [2] and security expert. [3]
Sean Hastings (born 1969) is an entrepreneur, [1] cypherpunk author, [2] and security expert. [3]
In 1997, Hastings worked on cryptographic protocols and tools free of U.S. cryptographic export restrictions with Vincent Cate, who started the International Conference on Financial Cryptography in Anguilla that same year. [4]
Hastings founded HavenCo in 2000, originally incorporating in his country of residence, Anguilla, [5] before a second incorporation in the Channel Islands. Hastings was the CEO; [6] other co-founders included Ryan Lackey and Sameer Parekh. Immediately following its public launch, HavenCo was the subject of a great deal of press coverage, including Hastings' appearance, along with several cofounders and the "royal family" of the self-proclaimed, unrecognized micronation of Sealand, on the cover of Wired's July 2000 issue, [7] before the company was entirely nationalised by the government of Sealand in 2002, after commercial failure and mounting tensions. [8]
In 2002, Hastings began work on seasteading with Patri Friedman, a project aimed at building floating communities free from the restrictions of current governments. [9] This collaboration continued through 2009, including a talk by Hastings at the Seasteading Institute's annual conference. [10]
Hastings is the cofounder, with Eric S. Raymond, of Green-Span, an open source infrastructure for trust and reputation management, begun in March 2009.
Hastings is also the author, with Paul Rosenberg, of a book, God Wants You Dead (Vera Verba, 2007; ISBN 978-0-9796011-1-8) which takes a look at the lighter side of atheism and anarchy, and was executive producer and an actor for The Last Generation to Die a short film about near future immortality technology. [11]
A micronation is a political entity whose representatives claim that they belong to an independent nation or sovereign state, but which lacks legal recognition by any sovereign state. Micronations are classified separately from de facto states and quasi-states; they are also not considered to be autonomous or self-governing as they lack the legal basis in international law for their existence. The activities of micronations are almost always trivial enough to be ignored rather than disputed by the established nations whose territory they claim—referred to in micronationalism as macronations. Several micronations have issued coins, flags, postage stamps, passports, medals and other state-related items, some as a source of revenue. Motivations for the creation of micronations include theoretical experimentation, political protest, artistic expression, personal entertainment and the conduct of criminal activity. The study of micronationalism is known as micropatriology or micropatrology.
Ryan Donald Lackey is an entrepreneur and computer security professional. He was a co-founder of HavenCo, the world's first data haven, and operated BlueIraq, a communications company. He speaks at numerous conferences and trade shows, including DEF CON and the RSA Data Security Conference, on various topics in the computer security field, and has appeared in a Wired magazine cover story and in numerous television, radio, and print articles, concerning HavenCo and Sealand.
The Principality of Sealand is a micronation on HM Fort Roughs, an offshore platform in the North Sea approximately twelve kilometres off the coast of Suffolk, England. Roughs Tower is a Maunsell Sea Fort that was built by the British in international waters during World War II. Since 1967, the decommissioned Roughs Tower has been occupied and claimed as a sovereign state by the family and associates of Paddy Roy Bates. Bates seized Roughs Tower from a group of pirate radio broadcasters in 1967 with the intention of setting up his own station there. Bates and his associates have repelled incursions from vessels from rival pirate radio stations and the U.K.'s Royal Navy using firearms and petrol bombs. In 1987, the United Kingdom extended its territorial waters to 12 nautical miles, which places the platform in British territory.
A cypherpunk is any individual advocating widespread use of strong cryptography and privacy-enhancing technologies as a route to social and political change. Originally communicating through the Cypherpunks electronic mailing list, informal groups aimed to achieve privacy and security through proactive use of cryptography. Cypherpunks have been engaged in an active movement since at least the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Leonard Harris Sassaman was an American technologist, information privacy advocate, and the maintainer of the Mixmaster anonymous remailer code and operator of the randseed remailer. Much of his career gravitated towards cryptography and protocol development.
Ian Avrum Goldberg is a cryptographer and cypherpunk. He is best known for breaking Netscape's implementation of SSL, and for his role as chief scientist of Radialpoint, a Canadian software company. Goldberg is currently a professor at the Faculty of Mathematics of the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science within the University of Waterloo, and the Canada Research Chair in Privacy Enhancing Technologies. He was formerly Tor Project board of directors chairman, and is one of the designers of off the record messaging.
The Republic of Minerva was a micronation consisting of the Minerva Reefs. It was one of the few modern attempts at creating a sovereign micronation on the reclaimed land of an artificial island in 1972. The architect was Las Vegas real estate millionaire and political activist Michael Oliver, who went on to other similar attempts in the following decade. Lithuanian-born Oliver formed a syndicate, the Ocean Life Research Foundation, which had considerable finances for the project and had offices in New York and London. They anticipated a libertarian society with "no taxation, welfare, subsidies, or any form of economic interventionism." In addition to tourism and fishing, the economy of the new nation would include light industry and other commerce.
Sameer Parekh is the founder of C2Net Software, Inc.
Seasteading is the concept of creating permanent dwellings at sea, called seasteads, in international waters outside the territory claimed by any government. No one has yet created a structure on the high seas that has been recognized as a sovereign state. Proposed structures have included modified cruise ships, refitted oil platforms, and custom-built floating islands.
The CryptoRights Foundation, Inc. (CRF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in San Francisco. The CryptoRights Foundation helps human rights groups and other NGOs use encryption to protect their online communications. It has contributed to encryption standards such as OpenPGP, IPsec and GnuPG. The organization was founded on 26 February 1998 during a total solar eclipse on a boat chartered by attendees of the International Financial Cryptography Association conference on Anguilla by Dave Del Torto and a group of fellow "cypherpunk" cryptology experts.
The Sealand national football team represents the unrecognized, self-proclaimed micronation of the Principality of Sealand. It is not a member of FIFA or UEFA, but was an associate member of the N.F.-Board, an organisation for teams who are not members of FIFA. They were admitted to the N.F.-Board as a provisional member in 2005 and as an associate member in 2006, before the organisation became defunct in 2013. The team has been inactive since 2014, although discussions are underway to revive the team as of April 2023.
Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn, is an American Colorado-based computer security specialist, self-proclaimed cypherpunk, and ex-CEO of the Electric Coin Company (ECC), a for-profit company leading the development of Zcash.
Patri Friedman is an American libertarian, anarcho-capitalist, and theorist of political economy. He founded The Seasteading Institute, a non-profit that explores the creation of sovereign ocean colonies.
HavenCo Limited was a data haven, data hosting services company, founded in 2000 to operate from Sealand, a self-declared unrecognized principality that occupied Roughs Tower.
Harold Thomas Finney II was an American software developer. In his early career, he was credited as lead developer on several console games. He later worked for PGP Corporation. He was an early Bitcoin contributor, and received the first Bitcoin transaction from the currency's creator Satoshi Nakamoto.
Eric Hughes is an American mathematician, computer programmer, and cypherpunk. He is considered one of the founders of the cypherpunk movement, alongside Timothy C. May and John Gilmore. He is notable for founding and administering the Cypherpunk mailing list, authoring A Cypherpunk's Manifesto, creating and hosting the first anonymous remailer, and coining the motto, "Cypherpunks write code".
Vincent Aron Cate is a cryptography software developer based in Anguilla. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and ran an Atari hardware business in the 1980s before beginning a Ph.D. programme at Carnegie Mellon University, but dropped out and moved to Anguilla to pursue business opportunities there. In his new home, he would go on to establish an internet service provider, a computer club for young students, and an annual cryptography conference. A former U.S. citizen, he gave up his U.S. citizenship in 1998 in protest of U.S. laws on the export of cryptography.
Zero-Knowledge Systems was a Canadian privacy technology software and services company, best known for the Freedom Network, its privacy network. It was founded by brothers Austin Hill & Hamnett Hill and their father Hamnett Hill Sr. in 1997. Its headquarters were in Montreal, Quebec. Early investors and board members were Mike Santer and Alex Hern co-founder Inktomi. The company rebranded under the new name Radialpoint though was no longer a developer of privacy-enhancing technologies. Most recently, it was acquired by AppDirect and rebranded as AppHelp.
The Seasteading Institute(TSI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization formed to facilitate the establishment of autonomous, mobile communities on seaborne platforms operating in international waters (a proposed practice called seasteading). It was founded by Wayne Gramlich and Patri Friedman on April 15, 2008.
How to Start Your Own Country is a 2010 Canadian documentary film directed by Jody Shapiro and written by Shapiro and Denis Seguin. Produced by Phyllis Laing and Shapiro, the film explores various aspects of micronationalism and features interviews with several prominent micronationalists. The production studios for the film are Buffalo Gal Pictures and Everyday Pictures. How to Start Your Own Country had its world premiere at the 35th Toronto International Film Festival on 10 September 2010.
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