From: hal@finney.org
Date: Sun Sep 10 2000 - 12:23:59 MDT
Brian Atkins writes, regarding fraudulent businesses:
> Or you might say it is due to a lack of an easily searchable reputation
> system that penetrates into the real world. Who wants to build one?
The Better Business Bureau does try to maintain a record of complaints.
But it's not used much, I gather.
One problem with such databases is the liability of the distributor if
the information is challenged. I'm not sure how the BBB gets around that.
Maybe the inaccessibility of the information helps them to keep a low
profile.
The cypherpunks talk about data havens, offshore or crypto-hidden
databases which could record and disseminate information without being
bound by legal regulations. They would hold this kind of reputation
information and make it available for a fee.
Such systems would have the advantage of making more information available
which would help people to make better decisions. On the other hand
there would be problems with inaccurate information, plus people who
had bad reputations would have a harder time walking away from them.
Current credit databases are required to purge data after a certain
number of years, but presumably an unregulated data haven would happily
inform a creditor of your bad debts from decades past.
Without meaning to seem pitiless or tough, it is arguably valuable
for all parties in a proposed transaction to know the history of their
counterparts, and then to decide for themselves how much to discount or
ignore past misbehavior. In the present system, Big Brother in effect
lays down the laws of mercy, saying, thou shalt forgive everything that
happened more than X years ago (and to make sure, we'll prevent you from
knowing about it).
Hal
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