Assassination market
Encyclopedia
An assassination market or market for assassinations is a prediction market
where any party can place a bet (using anonymous electronic money
, and pseudonymous remailer
s) on the date of death of a given individual, and collect a payoff if they "guess" the date accurately. This would incentivise assassination of individuals because the assassin, knowing when the action would take place, could profit by making an accurate bet on the time of the subject's death. Because the payoff is for knowing the date rather than performing the action of the assassin, it is substantially more difficult to assign criminal liability for the assassination.
Early uses of the terms "assassination market" and "market for assassinations" can be found (in both positive and negative lights) in 1994's "The Cyphernomicon
" by Timothy C. May
, a cypherpunk
. The concept and its potential effects are also referred to as assassination politics, a term popularized by Jim Bell
in his 1997 essay of the same name
It has been argued that the feasibility of an assassination market precludes the development of any form of anonymous electronic money
.
Left-anarchist
Matt Taylor, another cypherpunk, declared in May 2001 that he was advancing assassination politics by taunting Ohio and California police online. He began an initiative called Operation Soft Drill — a name which reporter Declan McCullagh
wrote was created by Bell — with the stated intention of intimidating police and corporate polluters into respecting human rights
.
Prediction market
Prediction markets are speculative markets created for the purpose of making predictions...
where any party can place a bet (using anonymous electronic money
Electronic money
Electronic money is money or scrip that is only exchanged electronically. Typically, this involves the use of computer networks, the internet and digital stored value systems...
, and pseudonymous remailer
Pseudonymous remailer
A pseudonymous remailer or nym server, as opposed to an anonymous remailer, is an Internet software program designed to allow people to write pseudonymous messages on Usenet newsgroups and send pseudonymous email. Unlike purely anonymous remailers, it assigns its users a user name, and it keeps a...
s) on the date of death of a given individual, and collect a payoff if they "guess" the date accurately. This would incentivise assassination of individuals because the assassin, knowing when the action would take place, could profit by making an accurate bet on the time of the subject's death. Because the payoff is for knowing the date rather than performing the action of the assassin, it is substantially more difficult to assign criminal liability for the assassination.
Early uses of the terms "assassination market" and "market for assassinations" can be found (in both positive and negative lights) in 1994's "The Cyphernomicon
Cyphernomicon
"The Cyphernomicon" is a document written by Timothy C. May in 1994 for the Cypherpunks electronic mailing list, outlining some ideas behind, and the effects of, crypto-anarchism...
" by Timothy C. May
Timothy C. May
Timothy C. May, better known as Tim May, is a technical and political writer, and was an electronic engineer and senior scientist at Intel in the company's early history...
, a cypherpunk
Cypherpunk
A cypherpunk is an activist advocating widespread use of strong cryptography 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...
. The concept and its potential effects are also referred to as assassination politics, a term popularized by Jim Bell
Jim Bell
James Dalton Bell is an American crypto-anarchist who created the idea of arranging for anonymously-sponsored assassination payments via the Internet, which he called "assassination politics". Since the publication of the "Assassination Politics" essay, Bell was targeted by the federal government...
in his 1997 essay of the same name
It has been argued that the feasibility of an assassination market precludes the development of any form of anonymous electronic money
Electronic money
Electronic money is money or scrip that is only exchanged electronically. Typically, this involves the use of computer networks, the internet and digital stored value systems...
.
Left-anarchist
Left anarchism
Left anarchism or left-wing anarchism refer to left-wing forms of anarchism. It posits a future society in which private property is replaced by reciprocity and non-hierarchical society...
Matt Taylor, another cypherpunk, declared in May 2001 that he was advancing assassination politics by taunting Ohio and California police online. He began an initiative called Operation Soft Drill — a name which reporter Declan McCullagh
Declan McCullagh
Declan McCullagh is an American journalist and columnist for CBSNews.com. He specializes in computer security and privacy issues. He is notable, among other things, for his early involvement with the media interpretation of U.S...
wrote was created by Bell — with the stated intention of intimidating police and corporate polluters into respecting human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
.