:Sameer Parekh

{{Short description|American businessman}}

{{Multiple issues|

{{COI|date=October 2021}}

{{Autobiography|date=October 2021}}

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Sameer Parekh ({{langx|hi|समीर परेख}}) is the founder of C2Net Software, Inc.

While in high school in Libertyville, Illinois,{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/forbes/1997/0908/6005172a.html|title=Politics for the really cool|first=Josh|last=McHugh|date=September 8, 1997|website=Forbes|access-date=May 30, 2024|archive-date=May 30, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240530191306/https://www.forbes.com/forbes/1997/0908/6005172a.html|url-status=live}} he published an underground newspaper called The Free Journal, promoting libertarian ideas.{{Cite web|url=http://www.etext.org/Politics/Free.Journal/|title=Index of /Politics/Free.Journal|date=June 20, 2001|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010620051400/http://www.etext.org/Politics/Free.Journal/|archive-date=2001-06-20}}

In 1993 Parekh moved to Berkeley, California, to attend the University of California, Berkeley, and joined the cypherpunks.[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.805/articles/crypto/cypherpunks/bay-area-weekly-march-14-97.txt Secret Agents] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610153125/http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.805/articles/crypto/cypherpunks/bay-area-weekly-march-14-97.txt |date=2011-06-10 }}, cover story of the East Bay Express, March 14, 1997 In his second year at Cal, he started C2Net, a privacy-oriented ISP which provided anonymous accounts and an anonymous remailer, and was the first home of the Anonymizer web surfing proxy.{{Cite web|url=http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue2/remailers/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517135402/http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue2/remailers/|url-status=dead|title=First Monday: Prospects for Remailers|archive-date=May 17, 2008}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.december.com/cmc/mag/1997/sep/boyan.html|title=The Anonymizer|website=www.december.com|access-date=2024-05-30|archive-date=2022-11-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221103172617/https://www.december.com/cmc/mag/1997/sep/boyan.html|url-status=live}}{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/1997/01/scans-5/|title=Scans|first=WIRED|last=Staff|magazine=Wired|date=January 1, 1997|via=www.wired.com|access-date=May 30, 2024|archive-date=May 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230515154839/https://www.wired.com/1997/01/scans-5/|url-status=live}}

Through the mid- to late 1990s, Parekh was a frequently cited critic of U.S. policy on encryption software.{{Cite web|url=https://www.linuxjournal.com/article/2342|title=Interview with Sameer Parekh | Linux Journal|website=www.linuxjournal.com|access-date=2024-05-30|archive-date=2023-11-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231126053951/https://www.linuxjournal.com/article/2342|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=http://cybertrust.de/|title=Stefan Wolf CyberSecurity & IAM Consulting|website=cybertrust.de|access-date=2024-05-30|archive-date=2024-04-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240414233805/http://cybertrust.de/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://linuxgazette.net/issue20/sameer.html|title=Interview with Sameer Parekh Issue 20|website=linuxgazette.net|access-date=2024-05-30|archive-date=2021-12-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211206231149/https://linuxgazette.net/issue20/sameer.html|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.efc.ca/pages/media/convergence.02aug97.html|title=Can you keep a secret?|website=www.efc.ca|access-date=2008-03-23|archive-date=2007-08-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070819182241/http://www.efc.ca/pages/media/convergence.02aug97.html|url-status=live}} The cover story for the September 1997 issue of Forbes 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,{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/1997/03/c2net-short-circuits-us-crypto-policy/|title=C2Net Short-Circuits US Crypto Policy|magazine=Wired|date=March 19, 1997|via=www.wired.com|access-date=May 30, 2024|archive-date=October 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027014005/https://www.wired.com/1997/03/c2net-short-circuits-us-crypto-policy/|url-status=live}} and later helped organize the first global conference on financial cryptography in Anguilla.{{Cite web|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/030497anguilla.html|title=Cryptography and Paranoia in Anguilla|website=archive.nytimes.com|access-date=2024-05-30|archive-date=2022-03-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316151751/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/030497anguilla.html|url-status=live}} 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.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2000/07/haven-2/|title=Welcome to Sealand. Now Bugger Off.|first=Simson|last=Garfinkel|magazine=Wired|date=July 1, 2000|via=www.wired.com|access-date=May 30, 2024|archive-date=April 22, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422113913/https://www.wired.com/2000/07/haven-2/|url-status=live}}

After selling C2Net to Red Hat,{{Cite web|url=https://www.redhat.com/en/about/newsroom|title=News and press releases|website=www.redhat.com|access-date=2024-05-30|archive-date=2024-05-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526132912/https://www.redhat.com/en/about/newsroom|url-status=live}} Parekh traveled around Central and Eastern Europe in 2001 on a DJ tour. He played in countries such as Poland, Serbia, Croatia, Latvia.{{Cite web|url=http://www.creativedestruction.com/gallery/tour2001|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009094308/http://www.creativedestruction.com/gallery/tour2001|url-status=dead|title=Sameer's Gallery :: Tour 2001 |archive-date=October 9, 2007}} He also produced a number of "renegade" events in the Port of Oakland.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Putting-Tech-in-TECHNO-Dot-coms-electronic-2961926.php|title=Putting Tech in TECHNO / Dot-coms, electronic music scene in harmony|first=Vanessa|last=Hua|date=January 21, 2001|website=SFGate|access-date=May 30, 2024|archive-date=March 8, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308224041/http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Putting-Tech-in-TECHNO-Dot-coms-electronic-2961926.php|url-status=live}}

Parekh was a 2007 Lincoln Fellow of the Claremont Institute.{{Cite web|url=http://www.claremont.org/projects/pageid.2086/default.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515203423/http://www.claremont.org/projects/pageid.2086/default.asp|url-status=dead|title=The Claremont Institute - 2007 Lincoln Fellows|archive-date=May 15, 2008}}

As of spring 2012, Parekh is the proprietor of Falkor Systems, a flying robot startup based in the New York area.{{Cite web|url=http://falkorsystems.com/|title=falkorsystems.com|website=falkorsystems.com|access-date=2024-05-30|archive-date=2024-05-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240514222858/https://falkorsystems.com/|url-status=live}} In 2014, he was "Entrepreneur in Residence" at the Correll Robotics lab, University of Colorado at Boulder.