[Blocks-development] Ratings & Identities

[Erik M. <mo...@sc...>]

Let me give you a summary of my mid-term vision of a simple 
WoT/spamming/flooding protection.

Ratings & identities
--------------------

- Adverts are routed exponentially: 1->10->100 etc., Gnutella like. 
This is a great opportunity for spamming. So we have to concentrate 
on blocking false adverts to prevent index flooding/corruption.
- A single advert includes:
	1 filename
	n routes
	n ratings
	n identities
	ratings = spam, interesting, good, enjoyable etc. (predefined)
	identities = public key, digital signature, nickname
	first identity = always owner, other identities = third party
	ratings
- I have a limited number of adverts per second that I can route.
  Anything that exceeds this bandwidth is placed in a queue. This
  is not simply a first in, first out queue. It utilizes a trust
  metric that is gained from the nicknames.
- When I have downloaded a file, or received an advert, I can rate
	- the owner of the file (nickname) according to the advert
	- the persons who rated the file.
  In fact, I have an "identity manager" that allows me to check
  which files I have downloaded from whom and which ratings
  were distributed by the same person. Example:
		Frank 
		|- [file]   shell.mpg
		|- [file]   fruit.mpg
		|- [rating] mega.jpg score:5
- I can now give Frank an rating, any integer value, by hitting
  a +/- button.
- The identities and their scores are permanent (not flushed),
  while the files and ratings are flushed with each session.
- Adverts that are put in a queue are prioritized according 
  to 1) the identity of the owner, 2) (if several owners have
  the same score) the attached quality rating (where again
  the "raters" are evaluated to determine the weight of their
  rating)

Note that this is a simple WoT because ratings are independent from 
each other. It's not like in Michael's grand vision where ultimately 
you automatically trust a person because your friend of a friend of a 
friend trusts them. This might be doable by routing the data of the 
identities manager just like adverts, but that's a "nice-to-have" 
feature.

Spamming in a network that has already reached its maximum advert 
bandwidth is practically impossible. On the other hand, users who are 
trusted to deliver quality stuff should always be able to route even 
large file lists. 

-> New users can earn trust by delivering good ratings and offering 
good files.

Prioritization of file transfers:
---------------------------------

- "Upload" bandwidth can be limited both in total and as a
  minimum bandwidth per file (if this is possible). Files
  with high ratings by trusted users could be transferred
  with more bandwidth than other files, and if the maximum
  bandwidth is exceeded (i.e. no new files can be transferred
  without getting below the minimum per file) further requests
  are denied.

-> You can always leech from someone who has got the bandwidth, but 
unless you pay back in the form of ratings or good files, which will 
gain you trust, you will have trouble finding files.

Consequences for Searching:
---------------------------

Of course, the ratings are incredibly helpful if I search files. I 
can not only search by entering keywords, I can also search by 
checking categories, nicknames and/or ratings (ratings & cats take 
hardly any bandwidth--if we work with pre-defined lists, we can get 
256 categories with a single byte of information per advert). 

So I could check "Show me good pop music rated high by Michael" or 
"Show me any good pop music" or maybe later "Show me good files for 
which I have recently received adverts", etc. Or "Show me unrated 
files" to earn some trust by rating them.

Conseqeunces for Content:
-------------------------

While we allow controversial speech etc., spam, kiddie porn and stuff 
like that will be hard to get & distribute -- because these are not 
conform to the viewpoint of the majority of users. That's not 
censorship: If people want it, they can form their own Blocknets with 
their own "value system". Any BlockNet will be a reflection of the 
views of its moral majority. 

Regards,
Erik
-- 
Scientific Reviewer, Freelancer, Humanist -- Berlin/Germany
Phone: +49-30-45491008 - Web: <http://www.humanist.de/erik>
The Origins of Peace and Violence: <http://www.violence.de>