From: ichudov@algebra.com
Date: Sun, 26 Jan 1997 18:42:37 -0800 (PST)
To: jim bell <jimbell@pacifier.com>
Subject: Re: Fighting the cybercensor
Message-ID: <199701270242.SAA04198@toad.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


jim bell wrote:
> 
> "I have a solution to that problem."
> 
> Seriously!  
> 
> Look, I've proposed what I consider to be a remarkably consistent method to 
> prevent the kind of political tyranny that you criticize, and I don't see 
> any recognition of this fact.  
> 

Jim, why don't you stop bullshitting and write a real assassination
bot. [as a beta, it can be a mailbombing bot] This bot would:

1) Accept bets as combinations of
	a) Some amount of cybercash
	b) A string that identifies an event that should happen
	   such as "domain X is mailbombed"
	c) [optional] date of that event (no date means that you always 
           lose)
	d) Return address (possibly a nym address) to send
	   all cash from UNSUCCESSSFUL bets for the event in 
	   question.
	e) [optional] time limit after which the cash will be refunded.

Note that for simplicity, the bot should identify the event as 
a unique string, without any understanding of any semantics of that
string.

2) Store these bets in a database.

3) Have a trusted party (someone really honest, like myself) report to
the bot the signed strings that, in the opinion of the trusted party,
are "true".

4) Upon receipt of such event notifications, the bot will find all bets
and forward them to the better whose date prediction was the closest.
If several betters predicted the same date, the money is split between
them in proportion to the amount of moneys submitted.

Examples of use: Suppose I do not like The Right Reverend Colin James III,
cjames@cec-services.com. I have a lot of money, but do not know how to 
mailbomb. I set some nym address as my return address (for refunds if
CJ3 is not mailbombed within half a year).

I place a bet with $1000 worth of money and phrase "domain cec-services.com
disabled". The date would be open which means that I will always be the
loser. I also post a message (anonymously) saying that anyone who wants
to mailbomb TRRCJ3 can be rewarded through your assassination bot.

Someone with more knowledge of computers, a T1 link and no money will
be lured, submit a bet for, say, Feb 1, and on the 1st will start fierce 
mailbombing of cec-services.com. The return address will, of course, be
a nym.

The fact of mailbombing would become apparent when CEC-SERVICES's MX
DNS record is pulled off. The trusted party will send a phrase
(standardized) "domain cec-services.com disabled" to the bot. The bot
sends my money to the mailbomber through his nym address.

I estimate that this bot would take about 2000 lines of perl. You may need
to use some real database, like postgres or sybase.

Use a nym for it. It will take a while for this bot to develop a 
reputation (remember, there is real money involved!).

	- Igor.