Hello All There have been some pretty good comments on the list re credibility of the escrow protocol we have come up with.
It is quite fascinating to compare our real-world experience with various bits of theorizing in the past about escrows that use anonymous digital cash. Unfortunately, we only have account-based systems to play with so we must approximate as well as we can!! I do think that the comments on planning to �become the escrow service for drug dealers or other criminal activity� miss the mark a little as there is no way we can know who the customers are so how can we plan for or against any group of customers? Of course customers can send in messages claiming to be someone or other, but if they send them into the transaction account they won�t get read. Our communications account is largely to divert �spam� or other communication attempts away from our transaction account and, if read, won�t be read by anyone who could possibly affect the transactions. Furthermore, as implied above, we DO have contact details using the links on the FAQ pages and Links pages. This may not be clear enough. We have received an excellent suggestion to make a separate �Contact� page that explains it in full detail. Also I don�t think (chained proxies etc notwithstanding) that we are totally anonymous. I don�t think that is actually possible. We really would just like to become the hardest target for the attacker so they go for a weaker link instead. As the next step of the experiment, we would like to have a go at adding credibility to the mix to see what happens. This would entail getting someone with existing credibility to take over the service and DISPENSE with the anonymity of the service operator. This lack of anonymity would work at 2 levels: (1) Adding to the credibility of the operator. (2) Allowing a parallel non-anonymous service using Paypal (which we have been developing). Now whoever took it over would get the following: (1) Domain name (2) E-gold accounts (These to some extent would allow them to capitalize on existing reputation) (3) The web design FWIW ;-) (4) Database system for processing the transactions (which isn�t as trivial as it would appear!!) (5) Some additional Intellectual Property rights which we can define further upon serious request. We would also like to be kept in the loop as to sales after the system has been transferred. The transfer of the above would be an interesting exercise for transactions in which the seller is (initially) a persistent pseudonym. One method could be the following �opening the box� escrow protocol that we have come up with, in which the escrow service knows the goods have been shipped (analogous to, but less elegant than, escrow.com�s method for domain names). (1) Buyer selects a third party escrow service and seller agrees to use them. Buyer supplies the escrow service with: (a) buyer�s public key, (b) buyer�s email address (c) seller�s e-gold account (d) seller�s email address (e) a description of the goods (f) the funds. (2) Escrow service sends the escrow service�s public key to the seller. (3) Seller sends to the escrow service via email (a) seller�s e-gold account (b) a description of the goods and (c) (encrypted with the escrow service�s public key), a packet containing the database, required pass phrases, transfer of IP rights. (4) Escrow service makes sure that the seller�s e-gold account number and description of the goods as specified by both the buyer and the seller match then decrypts and inspects the package. They then re-encrypt it with the buyer�s public key, and send it to the buyer, releasing funds to the seller. Now this gives us the intriguing question of whether the escrow service would want to actually help the development of another escrow service, and not at least copy the DB for their own purposes! It is also an example of a protocol in which the escrow service becomes privy to the secrets of the 2 parties, perhaps being the diametric opposite of our �Universal Escrow� concept in this respect. Perhaps instead they could be persuaded to use the �Universal Escrow� protocol for the transaction (they wouldn�t need a DB if it was a �one off�). This wouldn�t be as foolproof as the escrow protocol mentioned above but would eliminate their conflict of interest.! So if anyone wants to bid for the parcel above, they can send bids and identifying information in the memo fields of micro payments to our 857157 communications account as specified on the contact links on our site www.universal-escrow.com OR using the following link: http://857157-xau0.00001-gold.e-gold.com/ We also welcome other suggestions for how to transfer the properties above to the highest bidder instead of the 2 escrow protocols we suggest. Any ideas? --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keyboard (SRK) when accessing your e-gold account(s) via the web and shopping cart interfaces to help thwart keystroke loggers and common viruses.
