Moxie Marlinspike
Cryptographer; created Signal and the Signal Protocol, and writes occasionally about cryptography, web3 and sailing.
Moxie Marlinspike did not write this page. What is this?
It collects the places they publish and what they have said there, each linked to the source. They have no account here. Is this you? Claim it, correct it, or ask us to remove it from ppll.
Where they publish
Site moxie.org His site: a handful of long posts, rarely. Has a feed.
Recent
- Blog » The magic of software; or, what makes a good engineer also makes a good engineering organization 23 Sept 2024 The people who create software generally refer to themselves as software engineers, and yet if they graduate from university, it is typically with a degree in computer science. That has always felt a little strange to m…
- Blog » California’s biggest flex 13 Nov 2023 I think the crummy shape of California’s symbols is the clearest sign of its strength. This may seem like a contradiction, but over time I’ve come to think of it as the greatest possible flex.
- Blog » My first impressions of web3 7 Jan 2022 Despite considering myself a cryptographer, I have not found myself particularly drawn to “crypto.” I don’t think I’ve ever actually said the words “get off my lawn,” but I’m much more likely to click on Pepperidge Farm…
Show 7 more
- Blog » GPG And Me 24 Feb 2015 I receive a fair amount of email from strangers. My email address is public, which doesn’t seem to be a popular choice these days, but I’ve received enough inspiring correspondence over the years to leave it be.
- Blog » We Should All Have Something To Hide 12 Jun 2013 Suddenly, it feels like 2000 again. Back then, surveillance programs like Carnivore, Echelon, and Total Information Awareness helped spark a surge in electronic privacy awareness. Now a decade later, the recent discover…
- Blog » A Saudi Arabia Telecom’s Surveillance Pitch 13 May 2013 Last week I was contacted by an agent of Mobily, one of two telecoms operating in Saudi Arabia, about a surveillance project that they’re working on in that country. Having published two reasonably popular MITM tools, i…
- Blog » Career Advice 7 Jan 2013 To my great surprise, young people now somewhat frequently contact me in order to solicit career advice. They are usually in college or highschool, and want to know what the best next steps are for a career in security…
- Blog » The Worst 27 Nov 2012 I don’t really know who Dustin Curtis is, but he blogs a lot, and those blog entries often end up on Hacker News. Not too long ago, he wrote a blog post titled “The Best,” in which he explains that he has nice stuff. Th…
- Blog » The Cryptographic Doom Principle 13 Dec 2011 When it comes to designing secure protocols, I have a principle that goes like this: if you have to perform any cryptographic operation before verifying the MAC on a message you’ve received, it will somehow inevitably l…
- Blog » Your app shouldn’t suffer SSL’s problems 5 Dec 2011 In recent months, Comodo has been hacked repeatedly, DigiNotar was compromised, and the security of CAs as a whole has been found to be not altogether inspiring. The consensus finally seems to be shifting from the notio…
Link verified 20 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 10 beliefs, 1 changed mind — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
People do not want to run their own servers and never will, so a system has to distribute trust without distributing infrastructure.
People don’t want to run their own servers, and never will.
My first impressions of web3 Said 7 Jan 2022
web3 is not on a path away from centralised platforms, and its privacy story is already below the internet’s low bar.
I don’t think it’s on a trajectory to deliver us from centralized platforms, I don’t think it will fundamentally change our relationship to technology, and I think the privacy story is already below par for the internet (which is a pretty low bar!), but I also understand why nerds like me are excited to build for it.
My first impressions of web3 Said 7 Jan 2022
Handling a change of keys is not a backdoor; it is how public-key cryptography works, and interception stays detectable by the sender.
The fact that WhatsApp handles key changes is not a “backdoor,” it is how cryptography works.
There is no WhatsApp 'backdoor' Said 13 Jan 2017
Show 7 more
Shipping default end-to-end encryption to more than a billion people is to Facebook’s credit, whatever else it is criticised for.
There are many things to criticize Facebook for; running a product that deployed end-to-end encryption by default for over a billion people is not one of them.
There is no WhatsApp 'backdoor' Said 13 Jan 2017
Encryption people have to switch on protects almost nobody; what protects people is what a service turns on for everyone.
By contrast, WhatsApp was able to introduce end-to-end encryption to over a billion users with a single software update.
Reflections: The ecosystem is moving Said 10 May 2016
A federated protocol freezes in time, so a messenger that has to keep up with the ecosystem cannot be federated.
Nothing about any of the protocols we’ve developed requires centralization; it’s entirely possible to build a federated Signal Protocol-based messenger, but I no longer believe that it is possible to build a competitive federated messenger at all.
Reflections: The ecosystem is moving Said 10 May 2016
Self-hosted email will never be end-to-end encrypted, and federation is the reason.
So while it’s nice that I’m able to host my own email, that’s also the reason why my email isn’t end-to-end encrypted, and probably never will be.
Reflections: The ecosystem is moving Said 10 May 2016
Legal change usually begins as lawbreaking, so perfectly effective enforcement would freeze a society in place.
What’s often overlooked, however, is that these legal victories would probably not have been possible without the ability to break the law.
We Should All Have Something To Hide Said 12 Jun 2013
When everyone is monitored and everyone breaks some obscure law, punishment stops being lawful and becomes purely selective.
Police already abuse the immense power they have, but if everyone’s every action were being monitored, and everyone technically violates some obscure law at some time, then punishment becomes purely selective. Those in power will essentially have what they need to punish anyone they’d like, whenever they choose, as if there were no rules at all.
We Should All Have Something To Hide Said 12 Jun 2013
Having nothing to hide is not a reason to accept surveillance.
You probably do have something to hide, you just don’t know it yet.
We Should All Have Something To Hide Said 12 Jun 2013
Beliefs others hold too
Encryption people have to switch on protects almost nobody; what protects people is what a service turns on for everyone. 2 hold this
By contrast, WhatsApp was able to introduce end-to-end encryption to over a billion users with a single software update.
Reflections: The ecosystem is moving Said 10 May 2016
Having nothing to hide is not a reason to accept surveillance. 2 hold this
You probably do have something to hide, you just don’t know it yet.
We Should All Have Something To Hide Said 12 Jun 2013
What is a korrent?
A korrent is a belief a person has stated in their own words: one sentence stating the claim, backed by a quote and a source, kept at korrents.com.
Under a name here, the quoted block is what they actually said. The korrent beneath it is the claim those words support, in korrents' wording — tap it to see the record, its source, and who else holds it.
Nobody here wrote their own korrents. They are compiled from public statements, and a person can change their mind, which is recorded too.
Feed
As its own page →Hiding
23 September 2024
13 November 2023
7 January 2022
From one piece My first impressions of web3 2 beliefs · moxie.org
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korrents.com
web3 is not on a path away from centralised platforms, and its privacy story is already below the internet’s low bar.Their words
I don’t think it’s on a trajectory to deliver us from centralized platforms, I don’t think it will fundamentally change our relationship to technology, and I think the privacy story is already below par for the internet (which is a pretty low bar!), but I also understand why nerds like me are excited to build for it.
-
Their words
People don’t want to run their own servers, and never will.
13 January 2017
From one piece There is no WhatsApp 'backdoor' 2 beliefs · signal.org
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Their words
There are many things to criticize Facebook for; running a product that deployed end-to-end encryption by default for over a billion people is not one of them.
-
Their words
The fact that WhatsApp handles key changes is not a “backdoor,” it is how cryptography works.
10 May 2016
From one piece Reflections: The ecosystem is moving 3 beliefs · signal.org
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Their words
So while it’s nice that I’m able to host my own email, that’s also the reason why my email isn’t end-to-end encrypted, and probably never will be.
-
korrents.com
A federated protocol freezes in time, so a messenger that has to keep up with the ecosystem cannot be federated.Their words
Nothing about any of the protocols we’ve developed requires centralization; it’s entirely possible to build a federated Signal Protocol-based messenger, but I no longer believe that it is possible to build a competitive federated messenger at all.
-
Their words
By contrast, WhatsApp was able to introduce end-to-end encryption to over a billion users with a single software update.
24 February 2015
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korrents.com
GPG is a failed experiment and will not be the thing that brings end-to-end encryption to ordinary people.On changing their mind
In the 1990s, I was excited about the future, and I dreamed of a world where everyone would install GPG. Now I’m still excited about the future, but I dream of a world where I can uninstall it.
12 June 2013
From one piece We Should All Have Something To Hide 3 beliefs · moxie.org
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Their words
You probably do have something to hide, you just don’t know it yet.
-
Their words
Police already abuse the immense power they have, but if everyone’s every action were being monitored, and everyone technically violates some obscure law at some time, then punishment becomes purely selective. Those in power will essentially have what they need to punish anyone they’d like, whenever they choose, as if there were no rules at all.
-
korrents.com
Legal change usually begins as lawbreaking, so perfectly effective enforcement would freeze a society in place.Their words
What’s often overlooked, however, is that these legal victories would probably not have been possible without the ability to break the law.
13 May 2013
7 January 2013
27 November 2012
13 December 2011
5 December 2011
Nothing matches.
About the English under a post
Some people here publish in a language other than English. Where they do, this site shows a machine translation beneath the post, in this typeface — the site's own, not theirs.
The post itself is never changed, moved or hidden: what is set in the serif above is exactly what the person published, and it is what to quote them on. A translation can be wrong in ways that matter, especially about tone.
Only the post's own words are translated. A quoted post, a linked article and a belief on korrents.com are left in their original language.