Beginner

Why Privacy Matters “I have nothing to hide.” You’ve probably said this, or heard someone say it. It’s the most common response when privacy comes up. And it’s completely wrong. Privacy isn’t about hiding crimes. Privacy is about power—who has it, and who doesn’t. The Real Cost of “Nothing to Hide” When you say you have nothing to hide, you’re assuming: The rules will never change You’ll never be targeted unfairly No one will ever misuse your data Your information will never be stolen History proves all of these assumptions wrong. ...

Goal Understand the ethos, purpose, and mindset of a cypherpunk. Learn why privacy matters in the digital age and why “cypherpunks write code.” Prerequisites: Basic Linux CLI familiarity This is Part 1 of 3 - Covers philosophy, history, and the manifesto. 1. What Is a Cypherpunk? “Privacy is necessary for an open society in the electronic age. Privacy is not secrecy. A private matter is something one doesn’t want the whole world to know, but a secret matter is something one doesn’t want anybody to know. Privacy is the power to selectively reveal oneself to the world.” — Eric Hughes, A Cypherpunk’s Manifesto (1993) ...

Goal Create your personal threat model identifying what you’re protecting and from whom, then set up your secure development environment for the rest of the course. Prerequisites: Week 1a (Cypherpunk Philosophy) This is Part 2 of 3 - Covers threat modeling and environment setup. 1. What Is Threat Modeling? Threat modeling is the process of identifying what you need to protect, who you’re protecting it from, and how you’ll defend it. ...

Goal Start your learning journal, discover cypherpunk culture and resources, and set clear expectations for success in this course. Prerequisites: Week 1b (Threat Modeling & Environment Setup) This is Part 3 of 3 - Covers journaling, culture, and course roadmap. 1. Start Your Learning Journal Create Your Journal cd ~/cypherpunk-journal nano journal.md First entry template: # Cypherpunk School 101 - Learning Journal ## Week 1: Cypherpunk Ideals & Threat Modeling **Date:** [Today's date] ### What I Learned Today - Read *A Cypherpunk's Manifesto* by Eric Hughes - Learned about the cypherpunk movement's history - Created my first threat model - Set up my cypherpunk development environment - Encrypted my first file with GPG ### Key Insights - Privacy is not the same as secrecy - it's selective revelation - Cryptography empowers individuals against powerful institutions - "Cypherpunks write code" - action over talk - My primary threats are [list your Tier 1-3 threats] ### Aha Moments - [What surprised you?] - [What challenged your assumptions?] - [What excited you about this path?] ### Questions for Further Exploration - How does GPG actually work under the hood? - What makes one encryption algorithm stronger than another? - How can I verify if my current tools are actually private? ### Action Items - [ ] Review threat model weekly - [ ] Practice CLI tools daily - [ ] Start Week 2 exercises - [ ] Recommend one cypherpunk tool to a friend ### Personal Reflection [Your thoughts on why privacy matters to you personally] --- Save and close (Ctrl+X, Y, Enter) ...