Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse

The Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse is a term for internet criminals, or the imagery of internet criminals.

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 Cypherpunk FAQ, which states:

8.3.4. "How will privacy and anonymity be attacked?"

[...]

17.5.7. "What limits on the Net are being proposed?"
[...]

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:

How to get what you want in 4 easy stages:

The four supposed threats may be used all at once or individually, depending on the circumstances:

In 2013, the director of the Safe Internet League (a voluntary censorship group in Russia) 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.

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