Drug trafficking, money laundering, terrorism and pedophilia.

They were the ones who were beaten and will continue to be beaten for privacy and anonymity. New, inaccessible forms of encryption, computer networks with a high degree of anonymity, cryptocurrency. To push the limit on one of these technologies, they often resort to images of drug dealers, financial speculators, terrorists, and pedophiles. These four groups are the four horsemen of the Infocalypse.

The term plays on the similarities with biblical characters. The four horsemen of the Apocalypse are catastrophes and cataclysms that precede the second coming of Jesus Christ and the Last Judgment. The four horsemen of the Infocalypse also wreak havoc and chaos, but on the global web. This is done with the consent and approval of millions of people.
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For the first time, the term “Four Horsemen” began to be used by Timothy May around 1988 when discussing the low prevalence of cryptographic tools among ordinary people. In 1994, the term sounds in his " Shifronikone ", a document of cryptopanks, which describes the ideas and effects of cryptoanarchism. Shifronikon is designed in the format of questions and answers. The document of the early nineties discusses digital currencies, the right to privacy on the Web, and the homicide exchange .

One of the points of the document reads as follows:

8.3.4 “How will privacy and anonymity be attacked?”

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Like many other "hacker" things - as a tool for the "Four Horsemen": drug dealers, money launderers, terrorists and pedophiles.

Other similar discussions contain a mention of this term. The list of four riders may vary slightly. Sometimes it is referred to as "pirates", illegally downloading copyrighted works. In a message dated October 16, 1995, serial killers are listed among the riders in the same mailing list. In the discussion, a formula was born on how to push through any solution.

• We have technology to stop. Do we have any moral reasons or a practical need to ban it? If not, then you need to choose a strong source of fear: pedophiles, terrorists, drug dealers, scammers, or anyone else, for example, serial killers. You can one of the groups, but you can several.
• Loudly announce that this group of people is resorting to our technology. It doesn’t matter that the scary, frightening monsters of the townsfolk are much more likely to use other technologies: paper mail, SIM cards and pay phones bought at the transition, cash.
• State that the only way to put an end to the actions of the Four Horsemen is to cover up this technology or begin to tightly regulate it. For example, if we are talking about the means of messaging, then this is either a complete ban, or listening. Not scary that messaging through our technology was a constitutional right. If the first item was carried out conscientiously, no one will have any questions. On the contrary, everyone will be only grateful.

Terrorists

The goal of terrorism is terror, that is, the intimidation of ordinary civilians. Not surprisingly, the image of a terrorist is often used to justify otherwise unpopular decisions.

A recent example of this attitude was the story of the San Bernandino terrorist’s iPhone. In December 2015, a terrorist act occurred in the United States, 16 people were killed, 24 were injured. The shooting was staged by Sayed Rizwan Farouk and Tashfin Malik, who were killed in an exchange of gunfire with the police. Among the things the couple found iPhone 5C, Faruka issued by the employer. One of the functions of a smartphone is password encryption, and it has been activated.

The court ordered Apple, the manufacturer of the smartphone, to make a special firmware for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The tool should have disabled the security features. Apple refused and tried to appeal the decision. As a result of several weeks of proceedings, the FBI did disclose data on the phone, but using a third-party tool purchased for an unnamed amount. Judging by the statements of the head of the FBI, the hack cost more than 1.3 million dollars. The disclosure of details of hacking Apple was denied .

Apple’s fears were justified by the fact that such a tool would have helped the FBI break into iPhone encryption or, at a minimum, better understand how it is implemented. There was a possible leakage of private keys for the signatures of the firmware. Everything that happens is actively covered in the media, and politicians are interested in the situation. And many of them sided with the FBI: they called on Apple to make a backdoor for the common good. Senators, law enforcement officials, and ordinary people demanded that protection be weakened.

The value of the extracted data is unclear. According to him, it became clear that Farouk had not been in contact with anyone for 18 minutes interested in the FBI. About some more interesting details are not reported. Real terrorists are not so technologically literate. For example, terrorists in France used ordinary SMS, but not protected instant messengers with end-to-end encryption.

Illegal trading

With the advent of working implementations of cryptocurrency based on the blockchain technology, relatively anonymous payment for goods and services has become possible. The "dark" side of the Internet allows anonymous distribution of information. Ordinary, law-abiding people go to Tor to protect privacy or to bypass a lock. Buyers receive or transmit bitcoins just because this system is convenient for them.

Nevertheless, these systems often prohibit or at least investigate the possibility of their interception: on the darknet there are stock exchanges where drugs, stolen credit cards and weapons can be bought, as if on eBay. Tor was originally created to ensure privacy, and before the cryptocurrency, payment systems with a dubious reputation already existed. Even before the Internet, illegal goods were somehow sold for cash.

Children

At the end of the XIX century, many states experienced the processes of industrialization, which imposed their effects on the social structure. Fertility has declined. The individual child began to receive much more attention from his parents.

At the same time, in European culture, a special relationship appeared with regard to childhood as a sacred period of development, and towards children as with innocent, sweet and priceless, defenseless and pure creatures. Moral standards have changed. By the end of the last century, children became potential victims, so all possible external dangers for them had to be eliminated. From now on, children need adult protection.

Although most of the described is positive, there were negative consequences. An emotional reaction “think about children” has been formed. Those who use it often demonstrate that they consider their actions important for the protection of children. Often this phrase sounds in a context cut off from children and reminds of a tool of moral panic. Indeed, how can you oppose the safety of children?

Therefore, childcare appears regularly in discussions on the legitimacy of censorship. Many materials are considered unsuitable for a children's audience, so their distribution is very limited. These include sexual nature and violence, sometimes something exotic - information about suicide or homosexual contact. Society may be so concerned about the integrity of infantile children, that - with joy or silence - will approve the prohibition of the dissemination of any information.

Dissemination of pornography involving children is prohibited and persecuted, as is engaging in sexual intercourse with a child. Any hosting provider is ready to immediately drive out a client who will post porn on his server with a model younger than 18 years old. Owners of sites where you can upload photos and video are familiar with the need to moderate the content posted by users.

Although site operators and companies providing them with power quickly remove such materials, in some countries there are additional filters.

Digital pirates

On the Internet, you can share files based on client-server architecture or using peer-to-peer networks. For many, the Internet is not just a source of news and a channel of communication with the outside world, but also a way to download movies, games, music and books. Rarely in which countries are hosting providers turning a blind eye to placing files or launching torrent trackers on leased facilities. Almost always, the client is asked to delete files or even point to the door.

Lost profits often appear in arguments for regulating the Internet. Rightholders claim that they suffer losses, and demand to prohibit or restrict access to pirated sites. However, statistics show that cinema revenues are growing from year to year. Among the pirates themselves more active buyers and collectors.

Dozens of hours of video are uploaded to YouTube in a minute. Neither financially nor physically the site could not filter the content manually. The process is automated by the Content ID system, which determines the presence of protected content. For video creators, the challenge is to play against this system and copyright holders. Abuse of the YouTube complaint system is a big annoyance to site users. At the same time the owners themselves are still unhappy and often accuse YouTube of indulging piracy. There are calls to ban and tightly regulate.

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Sometimes the Four Horsemen get together to remind them that they are real.

“Undernet is a place for communication between pedophiles, perverts, drug dealers and other freaks. First you need to find them all, catch and plant them, and then you can close the network. ”
Denis Davydov, executive director of the Safe Internet League, Izvestia, August 16, 2013 .

“New laws on data networks will increase our ability to disrupt the ideas of terrorists, criminal groups and organized gangs of pedophiles.”
British Conservative Party, The Guardian, April 22, 2015 .

“Gamma does not endorse or help the misuse of Gamma’s products and systems by any government agency. These products and systems effectively assisted in many countries in the actions of the police and other government agencies against the threats of terrorism, drug cartels, other forms of organized crime and pedophile gangs. ”
Gamma Group , the company is developing software for wiretapping for government agencies around the world, BBC, October 15, 2015 .

The assumptions of the Four Horsemen say that only criminals want the right to privacy. And if you sacrifice privacy, the difficult problem of the level of terrorism will be solved. In reality, the desire to have protected privacy is natural for human nature, and mass surveillance is unlikely to help.