Your paper on criminal contracts

[jim bell]

Your paper:    https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCsQFjACahUKEwiF_b_E7IfIAhWQmIgKHc_tAuY&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.arijuels.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F09%2Fpublic_gyges.pdf&usg=AFQjCNHOBvCYwJ5Aq0CmHTOY53sGdRs5Sw&sig2=L_lh-zCi016f7Y3jbKVKlQ&bvm=bv.103073922,d.cGU
Thank you for your reply, Dr. Juels, 
Once you read my essay, I think you will understand my concern about the motivation for your research, and its potential consequences.   Superficially, and certainly to someone unfamiliar with my idea (Assassination Politics essay),  I'm sure it sounds useful and indeed beneficial to try to prevent the construction and operation of "criminal contracts".   One problem that I see, as a lifetime libertarian, is that "criminal" may mean no more than "what the government wants to ban" rather than an actual victim crime.  Worse, governments are powerfully motivated to prevent developments that will someday likely destroy them.
I suggest that you study the analyses of Bob Vroman  http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=009ape    ,    http://www.mail-archive.com/cypherpunks-moderated@minder.net/msg02068.html     and  of Bob Murphy,  www.anti-state.com/murphy/murphy17.html   (although the Murphy essay might not be available, except as an archive.)  as well as by R.  Sukumaran   http://www.idsa.in/strategicanalysis/CryptologyDigitalAssassinationandtheTerrorismFuturesMarket_rsukumaran_0404.html. 
Further, consider

 https://github.com/isislovecruft/patternsinthevoid/blob/master/content/anarchism/game-theory-anarchism-ii-how-information-can-smash-the-state.md
https://c4ss.org/content/1157

series -- anti-state.com

https://www.reddit.com/r/Anarcho_Capitalism/comments/2jo578/arguments_for_against_insurrectionist_ancapism/


There is a lot more where this comes from.

Keep in mind that when I wrote the AP essay, technologies such as Tor, Bitcoin, and especially Ethereum and Augur simply did not exist. But today they do, or at least they soon will.  And that, I consider to be an extremely good thing.
So perhaps you will understand that I consider that trying to prevent _all_ "criminal contracts" from being formed is a major, and indeed dangerous mistake.  While I do not believe that such an effort can ever succeed, I think it would be best not to try.
          Jim Bell

      From: Ari Juels <juels at cornell.edu>
 To: jim bell <jdb10987 at yahoo.com> 
Cc: "runting at gmail.com" <runting at gmail.com>; "akosba at cs.umd.edu" <akosba at cs.umd.edu> 
 Sent: Wednesday, September 16, 2015 2:32 PM
 Subject: Re: Your paper on criminal contracts
   
Dear Mr. Bell,
Thank you for your original note and follow-up. We’re indeed planning to read your essay and cite it as appropriate in our next paper revision (slated to come out in January).
Yours,
AJ



From: jim bell <jdb10987 at yahoo.com>
To: "juels at cornell.edu" <juels at cornell.edu>; "runting at gmail.com" <runting at gmail.com>; "akosba at cs.umd.edu" <akosba at cs.umd.edu>; Cpunks List <cypherpunks at cpunks.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2015 10:14 AM
Subject: Your paper on criminal contracts

Dear Professors Juels (http://www.arijuels.com/) and Shi (runting at gmail.com), and Ahmed Kosba  akosba at cs.umd.edu :    I've found a reference to your recent paper, http://www.initc3.org/publications.html.  "The Ring of Gyges: Using Smart Contracts for Crime."   Perhaps you are not aware, but 20 years ago (1995-6) I wrote an essay on a very similar subject.  I called it "Assassination Politics".  cryptome.org/ap.htm .                 Jim Bell





  
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