At 6:06 AM -0800 12/30/00, Jeff Fitzmyers wrote:
>> General reputation trackers/sellers are going to have a hard time
>> coming up with a method that works for most needs.
>
>"Any week now" there will be a general one available. Most will be
>willing to participate at least a little. The bad news is you need a
>funded e-gold account (although I just got an idea to minimize this :),
>the good news is an exchange provider (or anyone) can have a field on
>their website that says:
Disclaimer: I'm somewhat-peripherally involved in Jeff's project,
and I'm a big fan of it also. I'm speaking (as usual) only for myself
here.
...
>Will generating this reputation be a lot of work? No. It is a byproduct
>of a normal activity we all do.
>
Actually, one business (MetalSavings) appears to have operated by
the owner's individual opinion of (among other things) postings to
this list. Once, long ago, on the basis of my writings, a very interesting
person snailed me a few thousand dollars worth of really cool stuff.* I
think that I'd trust a number of list members with gold, some of whom
I've never seen/met. I suspect others feel the same way.
>ps. I really respect the way SR has handled the recent questions. I am
>sure if we had the option of privacy friendly services we all would use
>them. Instead we need to do a lot of research or create them along with
>the business we are creating too.
I think/hope that a variety of services may spring up. Some may be
cheaper, for example, in exchange for giving up your SSN or letting
others email you once in a while. I personally don't like the use of
SSNs for identification, either, but in spite of the law itself, they are
used primarily for that, and a service that's large and available and
using them now is likely to be less expensive than a new, possibly-
ideal-for-privacy-fans, service.
Sellers of privacy on the 'net have, in the past, seen disappointing
results (see ZKS) compared to expectations, and therefore buyers
of privacy should probably remember the TANSTAAFL principle.
JMR
* What was shipped to me were Comsec 3DES (now Starium.com)
telephone encryption devices. I've been testing it out, and they work
ok (but not perfectly). Needless to say, someday soon I hope these
neat little devices will be available for e-gold from someone. IMNSHO
widespread usage of these devices could solve a lot of the privacy
problems mentioned by others recently here.
I'm still not sure on the price for these, but they won't be $99 like I'd
hoped, for the near term. I plan to buy the device I'm testing, if they
let me.
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