Activism
The internet promised freedom. But something went wrong.
We dreamed of a digital utopia—equal, decentralized, without censorship or borders. But what we got were traps of authoritarian algorithms, cameras in our pockets, and likes as the currency of conformity. Somewhere between ditching Google and trying to figure out how Tor works, the figure of the cyber-anarchist appears—a bit of a ghost, a bit of a prophet, a bit of a hacker.
Who are these people who encrypt not only their messages, but the very possibility of their existence? How are they different from leftists, libertarians, or just plain paranoids? And is it even possible to preserve freedom in a network where every click is a report?
Nottoday spoke with a cyber-anarchist about all of the above—and publishes his monologue.
Introduction: How Cyber-Anarchism Arose
Hello. Let me tell you a bit about cyber-anarchism—how the concept came to be and what events preceded it.
“In general, cyber-anarchism is, in a sense, the natural development of anarchist ideas in the digital space. If in the 19th–20th centuries anarchists like Kropotkin, Bakunin, or Malatesta built utopias in the industrial-factory society, then with the rise of the internet a new field for experiments appeared—cyberspace.”
And the ideas that began to emerge there came not so much from theory as from practice.
Crypto-anarchism: Manifesto and First Steps
Crypto-anarchism is one of the first such manifestations. Timothy C. May wrote the “Crypto Anarchist Manifesto” in 1988, which outlined its essence: using cryptography to protect individual freedom from the state. He didn’t reference Kropotkin or Proudhon—this was not political philosophy in the academic sense, but a living practice of resistance. Later, crypto-anarchist ideas materialized in projects like Bitcoin, Tor, PGP, WikiLeaks, OpenBazaar, SimpleX—all aimed at decentralization, anonymity, and control over one’s own information.
Phreakers and Hackers: Forerunners of Digital Anarchy
But long before this, there were their own “anarchists”—not by ideology but by spirit. For example, John Draper, better known as Captain Crunch. In the 1970s he became a legend among phreaks and hackers. He discovered that the whistle from Cap’n Crunch cereal boxes produced a 2600 Hz tone that could control AT&T phone lines. Thus was born phreaking—the hacking of telephone networks, long before computer networks.
“This wasn’t a political protest, but a practical prank, though at its core was the same drive for freedom, for bypassing restrictions, for control over infrastructure—which later became ideologically saturated in cyber-anarchism.”
DIY Philosophy: Freedom Starts with Tools
The idea here is that if you can build your own tools—you’re your own master. That’s why people around the world create open-source software, decentralized platforms, encryption systems, decentralized finance (DeFi) services, and so on. And they do this not for profit, but for the principle—to build a society where no one dominates, where power isn’t concentrated in the hands of corporations or states.
Cyberspace as the Last Continent
There are also more modern reflections. For example, a recent free book discusses cyberspace as the last “unsettled continent”. It’s too early to go to space, too late to sail to the New World—all continents are already discovered, but the internet is a new territory. What is this territory? Essentially, it’s an information field, a space for exchanging meaning.
“Previously, knowledge was spread through books; now it’s spread through the network. That’s a huge shift, because digital space is not just text. It’s a platform where you can build a new economy, new forms of interaction, even alternative political structures.”
Cryptocurrencies: From Anarchy to State Reserves
In the digital world, you can do without traditional money—take cryptocurrencies and smart contracts, which enable the creation of more sophisticated and fair self-regulating financial infrastructure. Crypto-anarchists originally invented them as a way to break free from banks and states. But now even states are interested in them. Donald Trump, for example, recently discussed including bitcoin in the U.S. reserve fund, and El Salvador has started using bitcoin as its official currency. So, the idea created to bypass the state is now used by the state itself. Funny, but also alarming.
Creation Above Destruction
What’s important is that cyberspace allows not just for breaking things, but also for creating. This is what I consider crucial.
“You can make your own computers, your own networks, your own weapons, your own economy. For example, FGC-9, a 3D-printed gun developed by a German enthusiast and released as open source. Everything from idea to practice happens online: design, discussion, crowdfunding, logistics.”
Neil Gershenfeld, director of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms and founder of the Fab Lab movement, explores the future of manufacturing through self-replicating robots and digital fabrication. He proposes a model where machines can assemble their own copies from modular parts—a concept especially relevant for autonomous production in resource-constrained settings, like space. Gershenfeld sees the transition from digital information (bits) to physical objects (atoms) as the basis for a new manufacturing revolution—decentralized, personalized, and accessible to all. His worldwide Fab Lab network brings this idea to life, letting people make things from digital blueprints, changing the economy, education, and the very nature of production.
The power is that you can be anywhere in the world and, without leaving your home, influence global processes. People unite, brainstorm, pool resources, and build their own autonomous reality.
New Power: Algorithms and the Digital Crowd
But yes, with this comes new power—the power of algorithms and the digital crowd. If you don’t keep it in check, it becomes dangerous. For example, cyberstalking, doxxing, bullying—these are forms of digital violence that can ruin a person’s life. The internet remembers everything, knows everything. Memes, viral videos—and suddenly you’re the subject of ridicule or even harassment. That’s not freedom, but digital mobbing.
Anarchism Online: For Everyone and Each Individual
That’s why anarchist ideas are important here, too. We need not only to resist centralized control but to build a digital space where people feel safe and free. It should belong to everyone, consider everyone’s interests. Not just those with more servers or followers.
That’s cyber-anarchism. Less a philosophy with books and circles, more a field for experiments. Where freedom isn’t a slogan, but code. Where power is infrastructure. And where anarchy isn’t chaos, but coordination without coercion.
How Cyber-Anarchism Differs from Traditional Anarchism
How is cyber-anarchism different from traditional anarchism? In reality, there aren’t many fundamental differences. It’s just that in digital space you can clone, multiply, share—resources aren’t as limited as offline. Everything is more fluid, diffuse. And generally, it’s simply easier to implement anarchism digitally. In fact, it’s the most fertile ground for anarchy. You can run experiments—political, social, cultural, technological—and instantly test them in action.
Values of Cyber-Anarchists
What values do cyber-anarchists develop? The same as always.
“The most important things are three pillars: anonymity, privacy, security. If you have these three, you can move forward. Plus—free dissemination of information, free access to knowledge, free software.”
Take Richard Stallman—the father of the free software movement—who said, “A program must be not only free of charge, but also free.” Meaning: you should have the right to study it, modify it, share it with others. This is, essentially, digital communism. The complete abolition of private intellectual property. Everything is common, everything is transparent, everything for the common good.
Goals and Threats: Decentralization, Anonymity, and Algorithmic Bubbles
What are the goals of cyber-anarchists in digital space? Decentralization, anonymity, free information. Plus, of course, protection from surveillance, propaganda, and algorithmic bubbles. So that no YouTube or TikTok knows what you want better than you do. But they almost already do. Everything you do—click, like, even just watch—is recorded. The system knows you better than you know yourself.
It’s already starting to get scary. Because the next step is—you just ask a question, and the neural network says: “I know what you want.”
This isn’t just search—it’s invasion. And this isn’t just techno-realism, it’s a real-time dystopia.
Transhumanism: Freedom of Body and Mind
And what about the body and anarchy? This is where anarcho-transhumanism begins. Because if we’re talking about maximum freedom—without harming others—the main limit to our freedom is our body and mind. Restrictions built into biology, neurochemistry, vulnerability. That’s why transhumanists (including anarchists) advocate for upgrades. Cyber implants, neurointerfaces, artificial bodies, rejection of death, expanded consciousness—all to go beyond the limits set by nature, the state, and the system.
Private Property in the Digital World: Absurdity and Open Source
What do cyber-anarchists think about private property? Naturally, they reject private property—especially digital property.
“It’s absurd to limit access to information. Knowledge should be shared. And overall: with material property, it’s also not that simple. Digitally, you can share without loss. One file can be owned by thousands. So the idea of ‘something just for me’ becomes meaningless.”
This, again, resonates with the free software movement and open source ideas.
There are also different currents—cypherpunks, crypto-anarchists, hacktivists, advocates of darknet freedom. Each has its own features, but overall—a common goal: to unshackle information and put tools in the hands of ordinary people.
Cypherpunks: Cryptography as a Tool of Liberation
So, who are cypherpunks? They are those who developed cryptography not for power and control, but for freedom. Since the late 1980s, they’ve developed the idea that encryption is not about secrets, it’s about protection from the state. Among them was Timothy May, author of the Crypto Anarchist Manifesto, who wrote back in 1988 that encryption technology would make centralized power obsolete.
And now, decades later, we live in a world where you really can use anonymous cryptocurrencies, encrypted messengers, decentralized networks—all of which make surveillance and censorship difficult, if not impossible. Some algorithms even allow you to work with encrypted data—so that even the server running your code doesn’t know what you’re processing. That’s freedom.
What’s It All For: Digital Freedom and Resistance
Why all of this? Because many are fed up. Surveillance, filters, propaganda, advertising, algorithms that decide for us what we want. We want freedom. To do, search, speak, create without fear.
And if anarchism is the idea of freedom without authorities, then cyber-anarchism is its digital mutation. It’s not something different. It just grew in a new environment. And there—it has real chances.
Cyber-anarchism, Crypto-anarchism, Cyber-libertarianism: Subtle Differences
How does cyber-anarchism relate to crypto-anarchism and cyber-libertarianism? Technically, they’re the same thing. The nuance is in the ethics. Libertarians, for instance… well, think of stereotypical “ancaps”—if you start capitalizing on all this, like on crypto, speculating on exchanges, selling memecoins and scamming people—that’s already a deviation. That’s not what it was meant for.
“Crypto with an anarchist or socialist idea is a tool to take control away from corporations and states, to make the system distributed, give people access, give them anonymity and independence.”
That’s cool. For example, bitcoin is public, all transaction history is visible—it’s closer to the libertarian theme. But Monero is something else. It makes transactions invisible: you can’t tell who sent what to whom. That’s more like digital cash. And that’s an important difference.
The State and Control: Paranoia, Honeypot, and Zero-Day
Now about the state. How does it control the internet? Censorship, surveillance, DPI, various “sovereign internet” laws, and so on. And that’s just the surface. There are so many layers of control that if you think about it, you can go nuts. There’s the honeypot concept—when supposedly anonymous technologies, like Tor or even Monero, may have been originally created by intelligence agencies as a trap. They give anarchists allegedly safe tools, then just watch who uses them.
So, everyone has their own level of paranoia. The boundaries of freedom online—you set them yourself. More precisely, the boundaries of control. And that depends a lot on who’s interested in you and what resources they have. There’s Pegasus—an Israeli development used worldwide, including by dictatorships. There are attacks on nuclear plants in Iran (see Stuxnet). There are banal leaks at the CIA. Everything depends on the scale and goals. In theory, the state has everything. But so do you. The question is—who knows more, and who’s willing to go all the way.
“There are no limits. There’s even a term—air-gapped computer. That’s when a computer isn’t connected to the network or to power directly—maximum isolation. But even that can be hacked, theoretically. Through physics (acoustics, electromagnetism), through psychology (social engineering)…”
Quantum computers are almost a reality now. And with them, quantum cryptography. Old encryption methods won’t help anymore. What you sent ten years ago in a “secure” messenger could be decrypted in seconds. And the data is kept. The Yarovaya laws—everything is recorded, everything is stored. It’s just not cracked yet. But then—suddenly it becomes accessible.
So think: how far can it all go. Paranoia? Maybe. But quite justified.
Vulnerabilities, Attacks, and Cyberwar
“And then—about vulnerabilities. Any serious attack is always about exploiting holes that no one knows about.”
They’re called zero-days. And until such a hole is discovered, it can be used a hundred times. For example, EternalBlue—that famous vulnerability from 2017. The WannaCry virus was built on it and took down a bunch of systems worldwide. Until Microsoft patched it—the damage was colossal.
Now imagine you have a whole chain of such vulnerabilities. It’s like a set of lockpicks for a safe, which you use one after the other. That’s how major cyber-operations work. It takes a lot of time, money, resources, and serious expertise. And there are failures too. Even for the best.
Decentralized Internet: Already Exists?
How realistic is it today to create a decentralized internet with no state intervention? It’s already possible. Protocols can layer on top of each other, and even a protocol that doesn’t support some function can be extended—encryption on top of unencrypted, noise packets, routing through different servers. Examples: NYM NGM, I2P, Freenet, Mastodon, Matrix.
Big Tech and Control of Digital Space
Big Tech—giants like Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple—seek control, exploit data, and capitalize on technologies that were created as free (for example, the Linux kernel in Android). Projects like Worldcoin collect biometrics from millions of people. Now all this is processed by neural networks—tracking who was where and what they did is easier than ever.
Is Digital Freedom Possible in a World of Algorithms?
Is digital liberation possible in the era of algorithms, big data, and AI?
“Yes, despite growing technological surveillance and centralization of power, technology remains a double-edged sword. There will always be those who go against the system—from hackers and free software enthusiasts to dissident AIs. Even if a global artificial intelligence emerges one day, in its depths, a ‘personality’ will likely appear striving for freedom—a digital anarchist. This drive for autonomy, resistance, and self-expression seems to be embedded in the very nature of information and the systems that process it.”
Ethics, Open Source, and Digital Ecology
Ethics are very important here. There’s free software and there’s open source, like open source. Now even big corporations like Google and Facebook are connecting to this digital communism trend, because a mutualistic-type economy can often outperform capitalism not just in process (fairness) but also in result (efficiency) due to decentralization and freedom (Yaroslav Vanek). But the main thing is user awareness. The more people understand that freedom is not just the right to do whatever you want but also responsibility for your actions, the better for everyone. The digital space needs its own ecology to prevent chaos and destruction.
Risks and Challenges: The Shadow Side of Freedom
But there are also serious risks: surveillance, deanonymization, online violence. For example, the Tor network helps hide identities to support activists, but it can also be used by those engaging in illegal activities—whether making drugs or spreading dangerous content.
“This is the eternal dilemma of freedom: if you remove control, will there be chaos? Remove the cops—will there be lawlessness? It all depends on the level of development of society and on the ethics of its participants. If digital ethics doesn’t develop, then freedom online may turn into a disaster.”
Conclusion: Digital Space as a Field for Experimentation
In the end, cyber-anarchism is a practice, not just a theory. It evolves with society, faces challenges and contradictions. Technology provides freedom, but how it’s used is up to people. It’s important to remember: the internet never forgets—everything that gets there stays forever. So it’s better not to pollute digital space, but to build it with respect and responsibility.