From: futplex@pseudonym.com (Futplex)
Date: Sat, 27 Jan 1996 22:29:11 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com (Cypherpunks Mailing List)
Subject: Re: Nym use in the real world
In-Reply-To: <199601261801.KAA07578@slack.lne.com>
Message-ID: <199601271414.JAA20590@thor.cs.umass.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


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Eric Murray writes:
> The other problem (tying the nym to RealName) for employers is
> more severe.  A nym is only good when no one can tie it to your
> real name.  If I have to tell everyone I do work for what my real
> name and nym is, soon enough people will be able to tie the two that
> the nym becomes nearly useless.

Maybe Lucky would be willing to share some wisdom from his experiences
consulting for various companies. (I don't know how much his reputation as
"Lucky Green" has come into play in securing those contracts, and of
course perhaps he really is an Irishman whose parents (the Greens) named 
him "Lucky"....)

The concept of transferable credentials is awkward because the actual 
properties described by the credentials often are not transferable from one
object/entity to another. For example, a cauliflower could in principle have 
a credential certifying that it's a vegetable (according to someone), and 
transfer that veggie credential to a jackal, but the jackal is still not in
fact a vegetable. 

I'm still not sure whether it makes sense to have "reputation capital" 
denominated in an actual currency that can be traded, for the above reason. 
We might use something like a nym-independent(*) credential statement 
signed by a certifier and encrypted to the subject of the credential. 
Pseudonyms and verinyms belonging to various persons/agents/etc. could 
freely swap around these "rep rupees" with potentially very confusing results.

Since credentials need to be backed up by actual performance when it comes to
a job, such a system might actually be acceptable. I could buy a lion taming
credential with some e$, but everyone would realize that I wouldn't last long
on the job if it didn't describe me fairly accurately. ;)  Presumably a
trustable-with-enormous-sums-of-cash credential would command quite a high
price on the open market.

I am ignoring here the significant gap between the passive reputation accrual
when someone reads messages from a nym, and the active reputation building
involved in handing out credentials. 

(*) Form letters are handy, but there's the usual tradeoff between the 
traceability and descriptiveness of the document.

Futplex <futplex@pseudonym.com>
"Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage...."

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