8 Jul
2002
8 Jul
'02
9:37 a.m.
Nick Szabo created the idea of Smart Contracts several years ago. http://www.best.com/~szabo. These would be self-enforcing agreements that were based on technology rather than laws. It all sounded cool at the time. But isn't DRM a form of Smart Contract? If I need a special viewer to download some content, and that viewer enforces the terms of the contract which allows me to do the download, that enforcement happens without any laws. It is all handled by the technology. It's a Smart Contract. It's interesting how ideas can sound good until you realize that they won't let you take other people's creative output without their consent. Maybe it's time for cypherpunks to put principle over greed.