FREESOCIETY
A crew for people who build in the open and own what they make. No landlords. No trackers. No permission needed.
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your name here
@you
> now building: _
// 01 what this is
Not a club. A signal.
Free Society is the Grazi community. Builders, artists, collectors and the stubbornly curious, with roots in the Chicagoland Area and members wherever the signal reaches.
We care about three things: privacy, ownership and creative freedom. Your work is yours. Your keys are yours. Your story is yours to tell, or not.
Web3 is a tool here, not a religion. Ship things, share what you learn, help the next person in.
// 02 where this comes from
Cypherpunks wrote code.
We build on it.
In the early ’90s a loose crew of cryptographers and programmers decided privacy wasn’t something to request. It was something to build. They shipped encryption anyone could use, argued in public, and published their code. Free Society runs on the same instinct: opt in, prove it with a signature, own the result.
Privacy is necessary for an open society in the electronic age.
PGP 1.0
Phil Zimmermann releases Pretty Good Privacy: strong email encryption for anyone, free, source code included. source: Phil Zimmermann, PGP 10th anniversary note
The cypherpunks list
Eric Hughes, Timothy C. May and John Gilmore host a meeting in the Bay Area, and a mailing list starts. Privacy, signatures and digital cash get argued out in the open. source: American Scientist, “Cypherpunks Write Code”
A Cypherpunk’s Manifesto
Eric Hughes publishes the manifesto: privacy as a choice, and code as the way to defend it. source: Eric Hughes, A Cypherpunk’s Manifesto
RPOW
Hal Finney opens Reusable Proofs of Work, tokens passed from person to person. Anyone could check the running code against the published source. source: Hal Finney, “RPOW - Reusable Proofs of Work”
The Bitcoin paper18 years ago today
Satoshi Nakamoto posts “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” to the cryptography mailing list. source: Satoshi Nakamoto, cryptography mailing list
Block 0
The Bitcoin genesis block is mined. source: mempool.space, block 0
The first transaction
Satoshi sends 10 bitcoin to Hal Finney as a test, in block 170. source: Hal Finney, “Bitcoin and me” (2013)
Free Society opens
Builders, artists and collectors from the Chicagoland Area out. The next line is yours.
prev_hash 19702d1834510bf72350f5864a41c8c1cab37d3f6d9dc3fee66dad900b7afbe9
Privacy is the power to selectively reveal oneself to the world.
PGP empowers people to take their privacy into their own hands.
I've been working on a new electronic cash system that's fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party.
$ cat ./the_code.md
Cypherpunks write code.
— Eric Hughes, A Cypherpunk’s Manifesto, 1993. Four lines we keep:
- privacy
- Reveal yourself on your terms. Every Free Society profile starts private.
- open_code
- Show your work. Share what you learn so the next builder starts further ahead.
- ownership
- Your keys, your work, your name. Proven with a signature, never granted by a platform.
- build_dont_ask
- Nobody hands out permission to make things. Make the thing.
Same instinct, new tools. Take a number.
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History, credited. The people quoted here aren’t affiliated with Grazi or Free Society; their words are linked to the original sources.
// 03 what members get
Issued on day one.
member_no
A member number
Issued in order, dated, never reissued. Yours for good.
badge
The Free Society badge
Wear it on your profile or keep it in your pocket. Off until you say on.
profile
A profile worth a bio link
Handle, avatar, bio, links and a “now building” line. Private until you flip it.
wallet
A read-only wallet showcase
Prove a wallet with a free signature. Show ENS, NFTs, balances, each on its own switch.
id_card
A member ID card
Terminal-grade card with its own share image. Download it, post it, pin it.
referrals
A referral link
Bring your people. Your count lives on your account and, if you want, your profile.
// 04 house rules
Private by default. Yours by design.
- private_by_default
- Nothing about you is public until you switch it on. Hidden profiles don’t exist to the outside.
- no_spend
- Wallet proof is a signed message. Never a transaction, never an approval, never a cent.
- minimal_data
- Your profile holds what you type and nothing else. No emails, no passwords, no payment data.
- exit_anytime
- Hide it, delete it, or leave. One click each. Your call, always.
// 05 the wall
Members who went public.
The wall is empty. Profiles land here only when their owners switch them on. Be the first name on it.
The door’s open. Walk in.
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> session: open · signal: strong
motto fingerprint E220 CDE8 4479 BB05 4510 7707 EE18 43A0 FEC0 8770
Motto fingerprint: the first 40 hex characters of the SHA-256 of “Free Society · private by default · yours by design”.