As promised, here is Part II, with a more graphical analysis of the issues of identity, anonymity, traceability, accountability, and the correlations between them. Consider two principles axes: -- identity -- accountability A "0" on the identity axis means a complete lack of any identity, with no assurance whatsoever in the nickname, casual name, and certainly not in the True Name, of an entity. The canonical "Anonymous," with not even any clues as to identity. A "1" on the identity axis means a complete certainty as to whom someone is, with extensive credentials, perhaps even voiceprint, blood tests, etc. An appearance by Bill Clinton probably rates a "0.999" on this scale, as various input vectors are summed...most of my posts might be rated at "0.95," and so on. There are some meta-issues about what true names really are. Was Bill Clinton switched at birth? Did the Trilateral Commission actually kill the real Bill Clinton when he was at Oxford and replace him with a KGB lookalike? Do his footprints match that on the birth certificate on file in the Arkansas hospital? Is that stuff even what we mean by "that guy is Bill Clinton"? I won't get into these meta-issues here, but they are eventual boundary-value problems for any "is-a-person" formal system. On the "accountability" axis, a "0" means an entity cannot be held accountable. Cannot be reached, cannot be hauled into court, etc. This could be because the entity is outside a jurisdiction. Marc Rich, resident of Zug, Switizerland, is about a "0.1" on the accoutability scale. A "1" obviously represents full accountability. Clearly it is possible for someone to be high on the identity scale (like Marc Rich), but low on the accountability scale. Or, more interestingly, it is possible for a participant in a transaction to be essentially anonymous, but very accountable. This is what digital cash and anonymous escrow systems provide. Chaum's "credentials without identity" makes this clear. It is possible to present some credential for some property, such as age, without identity. (An easy to see example being admissions to bars...as ID scanning technology spreads, we would like to see methods for checking an age credential without also creating a computer record of all bars visited, number of drinks consumed, etc.) (Crime and illegal markets often work this way, too. That is, with identity not necessarily known ("Vinnie the Nose"), but with other mechanisms for ensuring accountability. The usual, but important, stuff about reputation capital. Ditto for primitve markets, with goods left in clearings...absolutely no "identity," but various mechanisms for enforcement of trading protocols (including "no future business if you screw me," which is how many markets have worked, a la the Law Merchant for international trade, which evovled into the Uniform Commercial Code.) OK, here's a diagram. Notice that the central diagonal, the "main sequence" ( a la Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams) is the correlation between "identity" and "accountability." To those who argue that accountability IS identity, this is there line. But there are many other place in this space. For ease (to me) in making this diagram, I've had to just use letters, with the legend below the diagram. ^ CASH TOTAL 1 | CHAUM | ESCROW ^ | BRIN | | DIGNYM | | CORP Accountability | | | MRICH | | ANON 0 |_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 0 1 Identity --> CASH = immediate clearing, but no identity CHAUM = Chaumian "credentials without identity" (in many forms) ESCROW = leaving a deposit, or linking to another payer (an anonymous VISA card, with a deposit, works this way. Or a corporate account, card, etc., where the company backs the transaction, but identity of the participant is unknown, or poorly known) BRIN = David Brin's "accountability means identity" mapping (no doubt there are nuances to his view, but I believe this fairly characterizes the position he has described here recently) TOTAL = The total state. Eveyone in their place, every transaction logged, everyone held accountable by the State DIGNYM = Digital pseudonyms, or signed messages. Identity may be variable, from almost completely anonymous (e.g., Pr0duct Cypher) to known to some (e.g., Black Unicorn). Accountability also varies, depending on factors like jurisdiction. CORP = corporate, or collective, accounts, where identity of actual participants is poorly known, but accountability is high MRICH = identity known to high certainty, but "judgment proof" (note that this applies to many other persons, such as poor persons, who may say all kinds of libelous or actionable things, but who are not worth going after) ANON = the canonical "anonymous" message, with no identity, no accountability. Of course, there are many other examples. And each examples has "scatter." Each is a "blob," not just a point. And they can move around, as laws change. (For example, Marc Rich could quickly become "accountable" were Switzerland to change its laws about extradition.) The structure of this identity-accountability space is itself interesting, with peaks and valleys (suggesting a third axis, that of "cost" to live in these spaces....). And so on. I hope this helps clarify for you some of my thinking on these issues. i find that simplistic arguments, whether, "accountability requires identity," or "anonymity is a basic right," are not very helpful. There are clearly times when participants in a voluntary transaction want some kind of "identity credential" (especially to the extent they think identity = accountability). There may even be times when the State has a legitimate interest in compelling identity (though many of us would quibble with most such demands, and look for ways to satisfy these "is-a-person" needs less invasively than by requiring national I.D. cards and tattooes on forearms). Again, I hope this has helped. --Tim May Voluntary Mandatory Self-Rating of this Article (U.S. Statute 43-666-970719). 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