[p2p-research] Will big business privatize the monetary commons again?

[Matt Boggs]

Excellent commentary Sepp, I look forward to digging into the Douthwaite
discussion further. Indeed, I believe the only way to keep big business out
but more realistically; stave them off for as long as possible, is to
empower each member of the local collective. Also, my very unscientific
research indicates that if you keep the local communities small enough, they
can react swiftly to threats to their system (pods no greater than 300-500).
So, empower the community via ownership ( I know that is a slick word, but
you know what I mean) and keep those communities small enough so that big
business would have to tackle many networks before it would be economically
feasible for them. Needless to say, open source software would have to be
the backbone of the technology that links the pods to other pods in the
community.

Currently, I am experimenting with a proprietary trade system that is about
ready to launch. My first community will be industry specific in the state
of Colorado.
It will be a dues based closed system for now. 
Proprietary because it is the only way I can tie in bank accounts and
credit\debit cards securely.
Industry specific because I want to keep it simple and it has a revenue
model by which I can develop an open system for the community in the future.
Closed because I don't know what I'm doing and I'd rather have a sterile
environment right now and slowly open the spigot rather than facing
threats\obstacles I have not even imagined yet :-)
This initial experiment will follow two rules I mentioned above though. It
will empower the community albeit a local business community and it will be
agile; each pod would be no greater than 300.

Matt