Invention and Digital Timestamping

[Timothy C. May]

Mike Godwin writes:

> Doug Merritt writes:
>  
> > I believe that history will vindicate me. The problem is that history
> > has vindicated me a number of times in the last 15 years, but no one
> > remembers by the time that the future rolls around.
> 
> Solution: digital timestamping.

As it now set up (cf. Haber and Stornetta), only a partial solution.
The costs of digital timestamping are so low as to allow many
variations of a hypothetical invention to be digitally timestamped.

Thus, an inventor can later selectively disclose only the variations
on an idea which turn out out to work. The "brilliant penny" scam in
investments (which is: claim a penny can predict the stock market up
or down for the next 10 days...store the 1024 "predictions" and then
only open the envelope or whatever for the "winner." Then sell the
brilliant penny to a gullible fool.).

Certainly cheap digital timestamping is good for many applications.

But for others, one can imagine higher prices, such as $5 to register
an idea. This heads off certain kinds of "flooding."

(Same solution, by the way, for the problem often raised of people
trying to "guess" passwords or keys: charge a nominal fee and this is
no barrier to the actual owner but a huge barrier to random guessers.)

The timestamping service can still "collude" in a way by offering
discounts to its friends.

Scott Stornetta, currently of Bellcore, and co-inventor of the
timestamping protocol discussed here, is spinning-off the ideas into a
company. To be located in the Bay Area, not New Jersey.

Crypto-savvy Cypherpunks in the Bay Area who want to work in this area
might keep this in mind.

--Tim May


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