When i asked Doug for the details...
The version I prefer is "It's a major sign of weakness when your payment protocol includes 'and then we have you arrested' as a terminating state."
I tend to corrupt this to "'And then the cops show up' is a bad step to include in your protocol." Its a wonderful insight. Adam Lucky Green wrote: | At 10:24 PM 3/29/97 -0500, Robert Hettinga wrote: | >(By the way, I'm going to embarass Doug Barnes now by naming a law after | >him. He said a thing of beauty at FC97: "Any transaction protocol which | >has, as one of it's steps, '...and then you call the cops', isn't a real | >good idea on the internet." Shall we call it Barnes' Law, anyone? Sure, | >lots have said it before, but no one's said it better...) | | Actually, I think it was "...and then you punish them". I second the motion. | :-) -- "It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -Hume