I suggest that arbitration is well suited to pseudonymous commerce, and propose the use of an old device - the unincorporated, or deed of settlement, company.

First of all, this is a damn fine post. Outstanding! The first thing that strikes me about all this is how time seems to be "unwinding" as far as centralization of power, or anything else, is concerned. I've ranted about all this here and elsewhere, how falling semiconductor prices, public networks and strong cryptography beget the reemergence of bearer certificates, this time in digital form (of which ecash is only the prima facie example, the existence proof) and what I call, for lack of a better term, a "geodesic", instead of hierarchical, economy. We're seeing in this "unincorporated company" idea the devolution, the surfacting, of concentrations of information, and thus power, back out to individuals, and with that, responsibility, and of course, freedom. Truly marvelous. Hope there's more where that one came from. Cheers, Bob Hettinga ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com) e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA (617) 958-3971 "Reality is not optional." --Thomas Sowell The e$ Home Page: http://www.webstuff.apple.com/~vinnie/Rah

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Phree Phil: Email: zldf@clark.net http://www.netresponse.com/zldf <<<<<