clone the cypherpunk society

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Goal: open-source digital self-defense, privacy tools, and freedom bandwidth in every coworking tower, hackerspace, and university.

How: making an open-source, reproducible curriculum and hardware/network kit that any community can fork and run monthly.

Collaboration

Any hackerspace, vertical village, university lab, library, or group of builders is encouraged to replicate and contribute to the Cypherpunk Society.

As Eric Hughes wrote in San Francisco in March 1993: "Cypherpunks write code. We know that someone has to write software to defend privacy, and since we can't get privacy unless we all do, we're going to write it." The only metric that matters is how many people practice operational defense, verify their tools, and contribute freedom bandwidth.

Rules:

• Don't gatekeep
• Model the OpSec you teach (Chatham House rule, strip EXIF metadata, no non-consensual photos)
• Write code & share bandwidth
• Give more than you take

How to Clone a Node in 4 Steps

1. Fork the Repo & Syllabus:

   git clone https://github.com/CypherpunkSociety/cypherpunksociety.org.git

   Every workshop deck, threat-modeling worksheet, and event runbook is open-source. When you improve a clinic module, open a pull request so every chapter benefits.
2. Set Up a Permanent Tails Flashing Station: Dedicate one verified Linux terminal and a jar of USB-C drives in your space so members and visiting journalists can cryptographically verify and flash Tails OS in under 10 minutes alongside EFF Surveillance Self-Defense guides.
3. Pledge Bandwidth for Freedom Services:
   • Install the Tor Snowflake browser extension or standalone proxy across your space's machines (zero exit-IP liability, immediate censorship circumvention via WebRTC).
   • Coordinate with your building network team or pool unused cloud VPS credits ("100 Mbps for Freedom") to run Tor obfs4 bridges and non-exit relays.
   • Partner with non-profit Tor exit providers like Emerald Onion (US West Coast) or Nos Oignons (Europe).
4. Run the Monthly Cadence & Join the Electronic Frontier Alliance: Host a monthly 90-minute OpSec clinic, rotate Citizen Lab spyware reviews with Bellingcat/OCCRP OSINT briefings, screen CCC lectures, and apply to affiliate your local node with the Electronic Frontier Alliance (EFA).

Decentralized Tools & Alignment

We practice platform resilience and never lock technical knowledge behind a single proprietary walled garden:

• cypherpunksociety.org top-level website
  • links to all local chapters and sister hackerspaces on the map
  • hosts open curriculum, PGP fingerprints, Nostr NIP-05, and AT Protocol verification
• Communication Stack
  • Matrix, Signal & Jitsi Meet: federated/end-to-end encrypted spaces (#cypherpunksociety:matrix.org), Signal working groups, and open-source Jitsi video rooms for sensitive speaker sessions
  • Discord & Telegram: public community onboarding, OSINT tool feeds, and asynchronous speaker stages (never use DMs for sensitive operational disclosures)
  • Bluesky & Mastodon (Fediverse): open-protocol announcements and cross-chapter amplification
• GitHub
  • everyone's workshop material, relay playbooks, and verification scripts live in one place
  • add your chapter's coordinates to index.html via pull request to appear on the global map

Funding & Independence

Cypherpunk Society chapters are community-run and non-commercial. Spaces can pool member pledges for hardware keys, USB sticks, and VPS relay bandwidth, or partner with aligned non-profits like the EFF, Freedom of the Press Foundation, The Calyx Institute, and Emerald Onion.