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From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net> Date: Tue Dec 04, 2001 08:56:01 AM US/Pacific To: cypherpunks@einstein.ssz.com Subject: Re: Reputation capital

On Tuesday, December 4, 2001, at 05:28 AM, Marcel Popescu wrote:

...

I think all this stuff about reputations is being solved pretty neatly by the credit bureaus... up to getting scalars on people / companies.

Mark

This is naive. Credit bureaus handle only a particular class of reputations, certain types of credit-worthiness, and then with well-documented deep flaws:

-- regulation by government

-- "Fair Credit Reporting Act" forbids them from "remembering" certain classes of defaults and welshings

-- lack of competition (the Three use the same precise standards)

If you are rejoining the discussions after a long absence, you need to get up to speed.

--Tim May "The Constitution is a radical document...it is the job of the government to rein in people's rights." --President William J. Clinton

--Tim May "That government is best which governs not at all." --Henry David Thoreau