At 11:17 PM 9/4/94 -0700, James A. Donald wrote:
The objective is to go to a system where good conduct is enforced by the non material and unquantifiable value of reputations, rather than a system where good conduct is enforced by coercion.
Credentials are not reputations. Any attempt to make reputations more precise, objective, and knowable, will turn them into credentials, which are incapable of achieving the desired effect.
I'm afraid I don't understand what you guys are talking about. My wife and I bought a car on Saturday. We drove it away, based on what the dealer's computer printedout from his TRW inquiry. My personal credit (tied to my Social Security Number)is terrible. My wife's is pristine. We used hers. (Is this "transference of reputation? Could *I* use a couple different SSNs for different "reputations"?) They asked about how much $$$ she makes, how long we've lived in our house and looked at the record of payments on other loans. They took a copy of her driver's license (credentials?) and TRW calculated a "risk factor" for us. It was a specific number, between 1-1000. This sounds like a reputation kept by a third party (escrow agent?) to me. My actions (good conduct) will be based on (enforced?) by the non material and semi-quantifiable value of the TRW credit report, not coercion (I want more stuff in the future). TRW seems like a "reputation reporting agency". I can take a copy of that print out into another bank and get another loan if I wanted. Is that a "credential"? What's the difference? and what are the implications of the difference? Give me a better model to illustrate what you think would be better or worse. Drug dealers only need cash and a gun to make transactions while they keep totally anonymous. Futures traders need a credit line and a government registered agent to work through and have *no* privacy, but more money than I'll ever make.
By calling a credential a reputation, we imply that it automatically has value. Of course it does not.
But this is like saying that a credit card has no value. While this is technically true, in reality, where I live, I can turn that credit card into food, gas, stereos and computers. If I don't pay my bill at the end of the month, they won't give me anymore stuff. Reputations *and* credentials both have nothing to do with the value, worth or character of a person, but I don't think the car dealer cares if I kick my dog, only if I pay my bills. PS- I lost the note about Sandy's Privacy Seminar. Did I miss it? ***************************************** Conrad Walton cwalton@earthlink.net ***************************************** Without JOY there can be no STRENGTH. Without STRENGTH, all other virtures are worthless. Edward Abbey