Tim writes: > [...] > > Untraceable contract killings, crypto anarchy, is about to make > possible a wave of justice the world has never seen. Forget Bell's > hoaky, and cumbersome, "betting pool." Easier to simply hire > assassins untraceably. (If bets can be placed untraceably, contracts > can be arranged untraceably. Think about it.) For the same reason that it's not worth it for an individual to lobby against some new corporate welfare program or special interest group making a grab at a mere few $100m, because that translates into too few cents to that individual, it's not worth discouraging behavior on an individual basis. The contract is too expensive for the argued benefit it would transfer. Hence Jim Bell's AP protocol where the financial expression of lots of small amounts of dissatisfaction can be pooled together to effect censure. I'm not convinced that AP would have the desired effect were it to come to fruition -- governments aren't going to roll-over and accept it -- it's just going to result in escalation of militarisation of domestic law enforcement, and an conversion of the country into a warzone. For examples perhaps we could look at Italy and mafia wars, or Nothern Ireland and the local freedom fighters / terrorists where judges are flown around with military cover. I think regulatory arbitrage and moving information industries into cypherspace out of governments reach via anonymous offshore banking and pseudonymous communications is where we're going to see the effects of crypto-anarchy start first. Plus an ever more mobile workforce willing to vote with their feet over issues they care about. Adam (Personal opinions of course.)
