*This is a summary of my latest article for the print edition of Bitcoin Magazine, which is available [here](
https://thebrokeissue.bitcoinmagazine.com/autonomy-through-anonymity).*
Many are familiar with the 1996 ruling in [Bernstein v. State Dep't](
Electronic Frontier Foundation
EFF at 25: Remembering the Case that Established Code as Speech
One of EFF's first major legal victories was Bernstein v. Department of Justice, a landmark case that resulted in establishing code as speech ...
that "code is speech."
In that case, Bernstein argued that not only was code speech, his encryption code was especially protected speech because it enabled private, anonymous speech.
Bernstein cited S.Ct. precedent upholding the right to speak confidentially, anonymously, and to keep private the identity of one's associates. B/c crypto enabled such constitutionally protected acts, it was "inherently imbued with First Amendment significance."
<img title="" src="
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FqO4omdXoAIAMIL?format=png&name=small" alt="" width="455" data-align="center">
While the court did not go so far as to rule that cryptography itself was especially protected, Bernstein's argument finds ample historical support. America was founded on the right to privacy and anonymity, rights that are essential to the realization of individual autonomy.
Autonomy is the sovereign authority to govern oneself within one's own moral boundaries. Privacy and its more complete cousin, anonymity, can create those sovereign boundaries around the individual. Privacy is “the power to selectively reveal oneself to the world”.
<img title="" src="
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FqO7ZXfX0AEzgcb?format=png&name=900x900" alt="" width="543" data-align="center">
Thus, the loss of privacy strikes at our basic human right to self determination. [In the words of Justice Douglas](
http://bit.ly/3kJDqz9), without privacy, "freedom as the Constitution envisages it will have vanished":
<img title="" src="
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FqO8rNIXwAAs3X6?format=png&name=medium" alt="" data-align="center" width="559">
The earliest Americans understood this. The Pilgrims fled the surveillance state of Great Britain, where they could only practice their faith in secret due to Queen Elizabeth and James's network of spies:
<img title="" src="
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FqPANl3XgAA7Vvh?format=png&name=small" alt="" data-align="center" width="496">
By the time of the Revolution, the Founders were actively using cryptographic privacy tools like ciphers to communicate amongst themselves. In a letter to Madison proposing edits to the draft First Amendment, Jefferson used ciphertext.
<img title="" src="
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FccyYs7XoAAWqSI?format=jpg&name=small" alt="" width="288" data-align="inline"><img title="" src="
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FccyY6EX0AIss69?format=jpg&name=small" alt="" width="345" data-align="inline">
[Supreme court precedent](
http://bit.ly/41DVDyE) has acknowledged the deeply rooted right to private and anonymous speech, including the “Framers’ universal practice of publishing anonymous articles and pamphlets."
<img title="" src="
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FqPDmj-WYAwtA5K?format=png&name=900x900" alt="" width="545" data-align="center">
In 2021, [the court struck down](
https://bit.ly/3J7H531) regulations compelling disclosure of charitable organizations' donors' identities, reiterating "the vital relationship between freedom to associate and privacy in one’s associations."
<img title="" src="
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FqPFWtaX0AAli95?format=png&name=small" alt="" data-align="center" width="446">
Such recent precedent indicates the current Supreme Court may be accepting of Bernstein's argument that code enabling private and anonymous speech and association (deeply rooted unalienable rights) should be entitled to the highest levels of First Amendment protection.
#### WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR BITCOIN?
Bitcoin is code that enables anonymous communication and association (primarily through the transmission of value), and should thus receive the highest levels of 1A protection.
Moreover, the code for ANY PRIVACY TOOL should likewise be protected, including:
- The #lightningnetwork (@npub1gal0y3vuj3c5sme6444ncsr8xcfm9axehfcsuqfamz5v926m6f2s4yz3t2, #[0], #[1], #[2], #[3])
- Cashu (@npub12rv5lskctqxxs2c8rf2zlzc7xx3qpvzs3w4etgemauy9thegr43sf485vg)
- FediMints (@npub1nc0ynppqh37rtulr57xjqpzmfjp58xrd4ey8896ehn9j5flg33fszrz5pa, #[4], #[5], #[6], @)
- coinjoins.
That includes the nascent protocol [#nostr](
https://twitter.com/hashtag/nostr?src=hashtag_click), which allows anonymous and encrypted communications, as I recently wrote [here ]([
https://www.bitcoinbrief.io/p/nostr-bitcoin-inscriptions-and-the) and at [blogstack](
https://blogstack.io/naddr1qq3xummnw3ez66twwd3hy6tsw35k7mnn94nxjunnwskkzmt9dejx6etwwsq36amnwvaz7tmwdaehgu3dwp6kytnhv4kxcmmjv3jhytnwv46qygxs3jf3986ucff2jqtm75heppgxpvg8vcs2trxkjg5mx83h8m7vnupsgqqqw4rs2r77de).
By using these privacy tools to regain anonymity, we can ensure individual autonomy.
Like the Founders who designed and used new cryptographic systems in the pursuit of liberty, it’s time for individuals to code and use privacy enhancing tools to regain autonomy.
Kucoin lawsuit by NY AG: 
