Sameer Parekh ( hi, समीर परेख) is the founder of
C2Net Software, Inc.
While in high school in
Libertyville, Illinois
Libertyville is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States, and a northern suburb of Chicago. It is located west of Lake Michigan on the Des Plaines River. The 2020 census population was 20,579. It is part of Libertyville Township, whi ...
,
he published an
underground newspaper
The terms underground press or clandestine press refer to periodicals and publications that are produced without official approval, illegally or against the wishes of a dominant (governmental, religious, or institutional) group.
In specific rec ...
called ''The Free Journal'', promoting libertarian ideas.
In 1993 Parekh moved to
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...
, to attend the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...
, and joined the
cypherpunk
A cypherpunk is any individual advocating widespread use of strong cryptography and privacy-enhancing technologies as a route to social and political change. Originally communicating through the Cypherpunks electronic mailing list, informal g ...
s. In his second year at Cal, he started
C2Net, a privacy-oriented ISP which provided anonymous accounts and an
anonymous remailer
An anonymous remailer is a server that receives messages with embedded instructions on where to send them next, and that forwards them without revealing where they originally came from. There are cypherpunk anonymous remailers, mixmaster anonymo ...
, and was the first home of the
Anonymizer web surfing proxy.
Through the mid- to late 1990s, Parekh was a frequently cited critic of U.S. policy on encryption software. The cover story for the September 1997 issue of ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
'' focused on his views of the political and social impact of cryptography.
Through C2Net, Parekh pioneered the offshore development of cryptography by U.S. companies to avoid U.S. regulation, and later helped organize the first global conference on
financial cryptography in Anguilla. He was also an advisor to and the chairman of
HavenCo, a company that attempted to create a data haven in the
Principality of Sealand.
After selling
C2Net to
Red Hat
Red Hat, Inc. is an American software company that provides open source software products to enterprises. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina, with other offices worldwide.
Red Hat has become a ...
, Parekh traveled around Central and Eastern Europe in 2001 on a DJ tour. He played in countries such as Poland,
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...
,
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capi ...
,
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
. He also produced a number of "renegade" events in the Port of Oakland.
Parekh was a 2007 Lincoln Fellow of the
Claremont Institute
The Claremont Institute is a conservative think tank based in Upland, California. The institute was founded in 1979 by four students of Harry V. Jaffa. It produces the ''Claremont Review of Books,'' ''The American Mind'', and other publications.
...
.
As of spring 2012, Parekh is the proprietor of Falkor Systems, a flying robot startup based in the New York area.
In 2014, he was "Entrepreneur in Residence" at the
Correll Robotics lab,
University of Colorado
The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...
at
Boulder
In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive.
In ...
.
See also
*
Information security
Information security, sometimes shortened to InfoSec, is the practice of protecting information by mitigating information risks. It is part of Risk management information systems, information risk management. It typically involves preventing or re ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parekh, Sameer
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
University of California, Berkeley alumni
American computer businesspeople
American people of Indian descent
Cypherpunks