Aleksa's Book Review: Crypto-Anarchy

There are two words that will set off bells and whistles for 95% of people. The end of the 20th century was home to a new development that could scarcely be believed: cyberspace. This book is about how the advent of this new dimension can and has brought freedom to many, and headaches to even more. The work is somewhat friendly toward the ideas of meta-liberalism, Hayekian society and a world in which government is less involved. It also pokes holes in the ridiculously naive and unfounded arguments on both sides of the cyberspace equation.

On one side, cyberpunks want to be left alone, as the governments of the world can't possibly understand the new world that's being brought into existence in the bytes and circuits of the net. On the other, governments say that it's the
R&D, infrastructure and installations that they have invested in and installed that's providing for hte networks the cyberpunks take for granted. Both sides have quite a few good arguments, and I'm certain the discussion has only evolved since 2004, when this was written.

I was quite fascinated by the examination of weak and strong cryptography in the latter chapters - the book also forecasted the development of an internet money with an immutable ledger that will spring up as the result of a worldwide financial crisis. As interesting as the subjects are, I'm not enough of a digital native to understand all of the intricacies - though it was a fun read.
8/10