Re: Legal requirements -> technical requirements?

From: GBurch1@aol.com
Date: Tue Nov 21 2000 - 16:07:24 MST


In a message dated 11/11/00 5:18:35 PM Central Standard Time,
wingcat@pacbell.net writes:

> I wonder if it would be possible to come up with inexpensive, similar
> guards for illegal actions, where the problem is big enough that the
> methods currently used to prevent these actions (for instance, avoiding
> uniformed police at all costs in order to avoid police abuse) is far
> from inexpensive (many societal costs of people not trusting the police
> - whether the police earn that mistrust or not - are rather obvious,
> when looked at as such). If it becomes literally impossible to violate
> the law, then "enforcing" the law becomes moot. (Which would make the
> issue of making sure the law is just and fair even more important, but
> that's another topic...)

This is the basic idea behind "smart contracts", pioneered by extropian Nick
Szabo:

      http://www.best.com/~szabo/smart_contracts_idea.html

       Greg Burch <GBurch1@aol.com>----<gburch@lockeliddell.com>
      Attorney ::: Vice President, Extropy Institute ::: Wilderness Guide
      http://users.aol.com/gburch1 -or- http://members.aol.com/gburch1
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        "We never stop investigating. We are never satisfied that we know
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