From: Black Unicorn <unicorn@schloss.li>
Date: Sun, 16 Jun 1996 11:19:58 +0800
To: Vipul Ved Prakash <vipul@pobox.com>
Subject: Re: pretty good reputation
In-Reply-To: <199606142000.BAA00199@fountainhead.net>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.93.960615173035.25332E-100000@polaris>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


On Sat, 15 Jun 1996, Vipul Ved Prakash wrote:

> a pretty good detour. 
> 
> by what i understand pgp's "web of trust" scheme has flaws. according to 
> pgp (alice trusts jane, jane trusts snoopy, bob trusts alice) implies 
> bob trusts snoopy. this means that alice trusts jane to the extent, that 
> if jane trusts a third person, then a fourth person who trusts alice 
> automatically trusts that third person. deducing such results from a 
> simple shades of trust system cannot lead to a reliable web of trust.
> thats common sense.
> 
> what is required is a reputation system wherein trust is  _qualified_ 
> rather than _quantified_. its senseless to say i trust him five units.
> it will be more appropriate if pgp has a separate tag for "type of trust"
> or something like that. 

Concur.
I suggested this kind of taging of signatures coupled with specific yes/no
questions from pgp to narrow down the meaning and scope of trust extended
by a given signature.


> 
> this kind of thing can be difficult to handle, since it a fuzzy 
> parameter. add to the problem a global-system like internet where all 
> communication is not person to person. i was wondering if there are 
> any working mathematical models for reputation systems, and how 
> successful they are.
> 
> vipul ved prakash
> 
> 

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