The Assassination Market and the Morality of Individual Retribution and Self-Defense (Sources)
Despite the hi-falutin title, this post is going to be mostly a collection of source material.
These sources will cover the decentralized concept of an assassination market, and move from there into more generalized discussions about the moral use of assassination.
Assassination Markets And The Ethics Of Swarms
The recent Forbes article on the Assassination Market marks only the most recent addition to a growing list of online cryptographic and counter-economic projects, but for those familiar with Tim May’s “Crypto-Anarchist Manifesto” or Jim Bell’s “Assassination Politics,” it is the final, cathartic confrontation with a world we all saw coming.
Assassination Politics by Jim Bell
A few months ago, I had a truly and quite literally "revolutionary" idea, and I jokingly called it "Assassination Politics": I speculated on the question of whether an organization could be set up to legally announce that it would be awarding a cash prize to somebody who correctly "predicted" the death of one of a list of violators of rights, usually either government employees, officeholders, or appointees. It could ask for anonymous contributions from the public, and individuals would be able send those contributions using digital cash.
...
The organization set up to manage such a system could, presumably, make up a list of people who had seriously violated the NAP, 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.
Are assassination markets a part of capitalism / anarcho-capitalism / free markets?
Meet The 'Assassination Market' Creator Who's Crowdfunding Murder With Bitcoins
Sanjuro's grisly ambitions go beyond raising the funds to bankroll a few political killings. He believes that if Assassination Market can persist and gain enough users, it will eventually enable the assassinations of enough politicians that no one would dare to hold office. He says he intends Assassination Market to destroy "all governments, everywhere."
This paper attempts to understand Jim Bell’s concept which requires
some knowledge of cryptology. It briefly discusses some concepts in
cryptology and electronic banking which are essential to the working
of the scheme. It also discusses the Iowa Electronic Markets which
have been fairly successful in predicting US Presidential elections. It
uses an approach similar to that proposed by Admiral Poindexter’s
group. The paper analyses the practicality of both Bell’s and
Poindexter’s schemes.
Taking Aim at Regime Elites: Assassination, Tyrannicide, and the Clancy Doctrine
Tyranny is the expression of evil on the largest scale, the state. It manifests itself externally through aggressive international war, and internally through what is now referred to as "democide," the murder by a state of its own people.'
...
From the earliest times, commentators have maintained that the taking of a human life is not always wrong. Indeed, there are situations in which it would be morally reprehensible not to take a human life.
Political Assassination, The Strategic Precision Weapon of Choice
In the dark environment of the new millennium where asymmetric forms of warfare will be the choice of attack by rogue states and non-state entities, political assassination offers the prospect of being the ultimate precision weapon to counter th
e agents that would wage such a war. This paper explores the history of assassination as a tool of US foreign policy, reviews the current US policy that limits the US government's use of assassination, and argues that the policy should be discard
ed for a more pragmatic approach given the age in which Americans live
ASSASSINATION:Operation ANTHROPOID 1941–1942
A Czech study of the assassination of Gestapo/SS leader Reinhard Heydrich
This comment will provide an investigation into the legality of
the assassination of state leaders that sponsor and harbor terrorists
under domestic and international law. It will primarily examine
domestic and international laws on assassination, and provide an
interpretation of how and when these laws apply. Section II will
discuss the definitions of assassination and terrorism, give a brief
historical background on the terms, and provide a short discussion on
the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Section III will focus on the
domestic prohibition on assassination, namely Executive Order
12,333, Congressional investigation into past assassination attempts,
and increased oversight of the intelligence community. Section IV
will discuss the United Nations Charter and customary international
law's right to self-defense through preemptive assassination. Section
V will discuss moral and practical problems if the United States
employs assassination
Comments
My major concern with the concept is not that the assassination market can be abused to target the innocent who have been the victim of Information War (a very valid concept), or the possibility of escalating violence on a free-for-all scale to the general population (another valid concern), but that it is based on the idea that it is government, not individual humans that commit specific actions, that is inherently evil. Government is a tool, like a gun. It is the individual politician or burrocrat that sanctions evil
And it is on the individual level that I seek for justice, or to defend myself. This is going to be circular logic if you believe that government is evil and won't make sense to you; individuals that abuse the power they have gained via government and are protected by government should be the targets of retribution and self-defense policy.
I have long held the idea of an article on decapitation strategy bouncing around me gulliver. This isn't it, but it does provide a lot of background for that hopefully upcoming blog.
Some of these sources discusses assassination from the State level; what's good for the goose is good for the gander ;> OTOH, under the assumption that a society employs specialists to perform such functions, I am not claiming that all government assassination is inherently evil, either.
Assassination can be considered a mode on the continuum of war
These ideas touch also on NAP; an idea I am not familiar with other than the basic premise.
My writing has sucked over the last 3 months; this aint particular good writing, but it serves a purpose for me
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