CDR: Re: Nyms and reputations.
Igor Chudov
ichudov at Algebra.Com
Sat Oct 28 12:09:52 PDT 2000
Most of these problems are solved by the use of bonds posted by parties.
igor
Ray Dillinger wrote:
>
>
>
>
> On Fri, 27 Oct 2000, R. A. Hettinga wrote:
>
> >Mostly, when I tossed that one off, I was remembering arguments around here
> >-- more than once -- that anonymity, particularly in anonymous
> >transactions, will *always* cost more than non-anonymous ones. Something I
> >dispute rather heatedly, of course, or I wouldn't be spending so much
> >money, or working so hard, these days to prove otherwise...
>
> I've been thinking pretty much the same thing lately. When you
> do business with someone, you want to know his/her True Name, so
> that if they 'defect' (ie, take your money on a long trip to the
> bahamas without delivering the goods, or take your goods on a long
> trip to the bahamas without giving you the promised money) you can
> drag their asses into court and get what they promised you.
>
> Clearly, there is no such recourse when dealing with a Nym. And
> the hellish thing about Nyms is, they don't cost anything. If the
> guy (or gal) steals from you using a Nym, you can spread the word
> about that nym and trash its reputation. But they don't have to
> care, because by this time they'll be using another nym. With
> Nyms, somebody who has ripped off a hundred people for a million
> dollars each is indistinguishable from someone who's just new to
> the system. While Nyms have zero cost, they will never simultaneously
> be in use and have negative reputation.
>
> It is also very hard to get a positive reputation with a nym;
> (switching to didactic mode).
>
> Either you are doing a legal business or an illegal business.
> If you are doing a Legal business:
> A customer can go to either a nym or a true name.
> If a customer goes to a nym, there is no legal recourse,
> but if a customer goes to a true name, there is legal recourse.
> Therefore it is clearly better for the customer to go to a true
> name.
>
> If you are doing an illegal business:
> You either do, or do not, create a "reference" as a result
> of the transaction.
>
> If no reference is created, no reputation can be gained. QED.
>
> If a reference is created, then it either does, or does not,
> identify the principals and the deal consummated.
>
> If the reference identifies the principals and the deal
> then it can also be used as conclusive proof in court
> against them if the owner of either nym is ever discovered.
> And this is the best kind of "digital reputation" I can
> find in this system. It will be significant to someone
> else who has dealt with one of the principals as an
> introduction to the other, but cannot really be useful
> beyond that.
>
> If the reference does not identify the principals and the
> deal consummated, then either it does not identify the principals
> or it does not identify the deal consummated.
>
> If the reference does not identify the principals in the
> deal, then it can be duplicated at will by anyone who
> creates a few Nyms and puts them through the paces of a
> few pretended deals, and is therefore meaningless.
>
> If the reference does not identify the deal consummated,
> then it becomes impossible to make judgements based upon
> it. -- a cocaine dealer with a million-dollar shipment is
> hardly going to accept a "reference" which might be based
> on the purchase or sale of a pocketknife. Such references
> are also meaningless.
>
> Bear
>
- Igor.
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