Editing Assassination market (section)

== History ==
[[File:Assassination market.jpg|thumbnail|right|A screenshot from the Tor Assassination Market of [[Ben Bernanke]], former chairman of the US [[Federal Reserve System|Federal Reserve]] and the prize money of the equivalent of about US$110,000 (as of May 2020)]]
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]]"<ref name="Cyphernomicon">{{cite web | title = The Cyphernomicon: Cypherpunks FAQ and More, Version 0.666 | last = May | first = Timothy C. | date = 1994-09-10 | url = https://cypherpunks.to/faq/cyphernomicron/cyphernomicon.html | pages = Sections 4 & 16 | work = Cypherpunks.to | access-date = February 28, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110514104800/http://www.cypherpunks.to/faq/cyphernomicron/cyphernomicon.html | archive-date = May 14, 2011 | url-status = dead }}</ref> 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 1995–96 essay of the same name.<ref name="Bell 1997">{{cite web | url = http://jrbooksonline.com/PDF_Books/AP.pdf | title = Assassination Politics | last = Bell | first = Jim | work = Infowar | date = 1997-04-03 | access-date = February 28, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110127224301/https://jrbooksonline.com/PDF_Books/AP.pdf | archive-date = 27 January 2011  | url-status = live}}</ref><ref name="McCullagh 2000">{{cite news|first=Declan |last=McCullagh |title=Crypto-Convict Won't Recant |url=https://wired.com/politics/law/news/2000/04/35620 |work=[[Wired (website)|Wired News]] |date=2000-04-14 |access-date=January 14, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024203641/https://wired.com/politics/law/news/2000/04/35620 |archive-date=October 24, 2012 }}</ref>

Early in part 1, Jim Bell describes the idea as:<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.outpost-of-freedom.com/jimbellap.htm | title=Assassination Politics | author=Jim Bell }}</ref>

{{blockquote|The organization set up to manage such a system could, presumably, make up a list of people who had seriously violated the NAP ([[Non-aggression Principle]]), but who would not see justice in our courts due to the fact that their actions were done at the behest of the government. Associated with each name would be a dollar figure, the total amount of money the organization has received as a contribution, which is the amount they would give for correctly "predicting" the person's death, presumably naming the exact date. "Guessers" would formulate their "guess" into a file, encrypt it with the organization's public key, then transmit it to the organization, possibly using methods as untraceable as putting a floppy disk in an envelope and tossing it into a mailbox, but more likely either a cascade of encrypted anonymous remailers, or possibly public-access Internet locations, such as terminals at a local library, etc.

In order to prevent such a system from becoming simply a random unpaid lottery, in which people can randomly guess a name and date (hoping that lightning would strike, as it occasionally does), it would be necessary to deter such random guessing by requiring the "guessers" to include with their "guess" encrypted and untraceable "digital cash," in an amount sufficiently high to make random guessing impractical.}}

Bell then goes on to further specify the protocol of the assassination market in more detail. In the final part of his essay, Bell posits a market that is largely non-anonymous. He contrasts this version with the one previously described. Carl Johnson's attempt to popularise the concept of assassination politics appeared to rely on the earlier version.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://parrhesia.com/cj/ | title = CJ files | last1 = Broiles | first1 = Greg | date = 1999-08-27 | access-date = August 22, 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160319230420/http://parrhesia.com/cj/ | archive-date = March 19, 2016 | url-status = dead }}</ref> There followed an attempt to popularise the second in 2001 that is ongoing today.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://wired.com/politics/law/news/2001/05/43771 |title=Online Cincy Cop Threats Probed |last1=McCullagh |first1=Declan |magazine=[[Wired (website)|Wired News]] |date=2001-05-15 |access-date=August 22, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105040401/https://wired.com/politics/law/news/2001/05/43771 |archive-date=November 5, 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.lair.xent.com/pipermail/fork/2003-July/023219.html | title = Online threats target Denver investigators | last1 = Hettinga | first1 = R. A. | date = 2003-07-07 | access-date = August 22, 2014 | archive-date = 2013-12-13 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131213160558/http://www.lair.xent.com/pipermail/fork/2003-July/023219.html | url-status = dead }}</ref>

Technologies such as [[Tor (anonymity network)|Tor]] and [[bitcoin]] have enabled online assassination markets, as described in parts one to nine of ''Assassination Politics''.