A play on Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, it refers to types of criminals who use the internet to facilitate crime and consequently jeopardize the rights of honest internet users. There does not appear to be an exact definition for who the Horsemen are, but they are usually described as terrorists, drug dealers, pedophiles, and organized crime. Other sources use slightly different descriptions but generally refer to the same types of criminals. The term was coined by Timothy C. May in 1988, who referred to them as "child pornographers, terrorists, drug dealers, etc." when discussing the reasons for limited civilian use of cryptography tools. Among the most famous of these is in the CypherpunkFAQ, which states: The term seems to be used less often in discussions about online criminal activity, but more often in discussions about the negative, or chilling effects such activity has had on regular users' daily experiences online. It is also used frequently to describe the political tactic "Think of the children". A message from the same mailing list states: The four supposed threats may be used all at once or individually, depending on the circumstances:
Examples
In 2013, the director of the Safe Internet League claimed that pedophiles, perverts, drug dealers “and other creeps” were using the Tor anonymity software, as a reason why the software should be outlawed. This list did not mention terrorists or money-launderers directly, but did use the catch-all phrase "other creeps" that potentially includes them. In 2015, the UK Conservative party claimed that their proposed “new communications data legislation will strengthen our ability to disrupt terrorist plots, criminal networks and organised child grooming gangs”, echoing the "child pornographers, terrorists, drug dealers, etc." quote of Timothy C. May. Later in 2015, Gamma Group released a statement claiming that their surveillance technology is used "against terrorist threats, drug cartels, other major organised crime, and paedophile rings." as justification for concerns that it was being used to targetopposition politicians and media groups in Uganda. With money-laundering treated as a major organised crime, this quote matches very closely with the list given in the Cypherpunk FAQ.
