Reputation proxy (was: Re: outlook 2007 - postmark == hashcash-derivative)

"Eric S. Johansson" <[email protected]> writes:

> I'm currently looking into using another property of proof of work
> puzzles which is that of a reputation proxy.  Combining that with a
> historically defined reputation of a site, one can use proof of work
> as a reputation enhancer for good sites (i.e. guaranteeing delivery to
> inbox) and reduce risk to the super enormous bot net (which will have
> neutral or bad reputation).

This idea strikes me as potentially more successful than
proof-of-work-puzzles, which has the large-botnet-vulnerability.

Have you thought more about how submission into a reputation proxy would
work?  That part is a bit sketchy to me, and the main problem seems to
be how to avoid submissions from spammers.  Seed it with
known-good-addresses, and then add new addresses based on who they
communicate with?  There are also some serious privacy issues here.

I do like the general idea of a reputation proxy though.  It can be used
for a lot of things beyond email, but perhaps the many small details
makes it difficult to re-use one reputation proxy for another purpose.

/Simon