Identity and the Public Domain

Eric restates his 'the net makes everything public domain' thesis. Doc lobbies back, citing me on anonymous payment & value creation

I've got a different point today though. I'll point again to the great example of the net creating value - eBay. Suddenly, all that junk lying around can be sold because a market has been enabled. It did need some identity to work smoothly - eBay users' persistent IDs for the feedback mechanism of buyers and sellers rating each other. This fits in neatly with The Blank Slate again - Pinker cites variations on the Ultimatum experiment that show that some degree of traceability encourages fairness - this is similar to the work showing that in an interated Prisoners Dilemma the future casts a shadow that encourages co-operation rather than cheating.

So how do I apply this to mediAgora? There is some need for identity there, as if a perpetual right to a good quality copy is being bought, the seller needs to be able to identify the customer again. Simialrly, if the customer wants to become a Promoter their identity is necessary to ensure they get paid. I think this works as a quid pro quo for the benefits received. There is certainly scope for buyer and seller rating too.