Ever since we went live on Czech Television or published the mobile phone numbers of MPs, we as the art group Ztohoven have been associated with hacking. We are inspired by technological innovation and we explore its potential impact on society. All of this has led us to work closely with the hacking community. We see the connection between art, science, and technology as an effective tool to resist authoritarian tendencies. With the development of modern technology, these have crept into our everyday lives. We, therefore, found the Institute of Cryptoanarchy – Hackerspace, which joined the international hacker network.
The term cryptoanarchy denotes the growing environment of the unregulated area of the Internet, which through anonymizing tools allows unlimited data sharing. At the same time, through decentralized currencies such as bitcoin, it supports the development of the free market and ensures untraceable communication through encryption tools.
The aim of the Institute of Cryptoanarchy is to make tools available for the unrestricted dissemination of information on the Internet. We support parallel decentralized economies, cryptocurrencies, and other tools for the development of a free society in the 21st century. We deeply believe that censorship is not a phenomenon of a “distant dictatorial world”. States and their security forces globally control access to information. Under the pretense of protecting intellectual property, mass censorship is applied today and every day with one aim: to control the resources available. States process private mail and personal data at a global level, even though the European Court of Justice has ruled that such a directive (‘Data Retention Directive’) is unconstitutional. States and corporations collect and store data on everyone’s economic behavior. Through targeted legislation, they have gained full access to all payment transactions and purchasing habits.
New technologies bring choice with them. We are living in an era defined by The Crypto Anarchy Manifesto. With fast internet, a reliable anonymizer, and a decentralized currency, we retain the freedom that we are losing as a society.
