Hi Ian, Thanks for your reply. In brief, the answer to your final question is that information currency is a representation of property rights to the underlying information. However, information currency is not designed to restrict the distribution of the underlying information in any way - it is simply necessary for the information currency units ( each of a form like
<icu> <sid>https://leucine.infoeng.org:48443/icws/seriesInfo?seriesID=b5fe373fb6aab8ba6bad6fb933df1934c7740956</sid> <ci>QjWragyHoQstn8IggdB5WKASAJi8weg/cjINg1Ugw6GpsVWSakSTDzX/y1jW20uEfG9btHQwTuP5 0+G33f46BsPMgVV9Sho1kzoRW4pRFFaShVgO7PL63Tz4AbB/BIrj1KKFL60T+wijvmVA8fZChzGo x7Z9np2WEOjTBS2iC7I=</ci> <sig>im1KV5cwk2Gj5YjeDTSZVgZy3evHGTcMXDJ8zrdsvlV/FGMUjFYED2bHSe7lUlV9KSbdnTbR5VFR IsYGWR87VK1060yUT8K+PU1n1s/+XN2DeLom8aIrq+jxmIyQ9vo0oL6500FYBUSUhTCZb/LxMZQp QL1dqs2x9+bmR4am1gYbYQfJD4eiaYnMxEnW3PDR1bqwz8deoAPT1BgL2lZNcdTnrrjsmGLbbAtm QST0nAx2+e4okFGCOfJiM0NKALTtLc4kDFMTaJKDqRRcrJrLm2A+hEy13eaGXTIyqsuleN0Qo/T5 2+I1+C48sO2avDUaBvfgYP40ph2Hg4oEiAmByQ==</sig> </icu> ) to be kept secret until the ICU is transferred in an exchange. The <sid> element contains a URL for obtaining the underlying information - there's a longer description in the I-D at http://infoeng.sourceforge.net/information-currency-rfc.txt. I believe that the idea of representing information with financial instruments is new, which is why I have explicitly disclaimed patent rights in my proposal (and on infoeng.sourceforge.net, for over a year). The software that I've released makes it possible for a server operator to allow clients to create financial instruments representing the information created by the clients. The clients holding information currency can then trade it in a way that is similar to other financial instruments, without necessarily restricting the use of the underlying information in any way. This work is an effort to implement a software invention that, I hope, will benefit open-source developers. The company that would operate the ICWS server (or, realistically, a future production-quality information currency server) would play a role like the underwriter of stocks. However, instead of property titles to a company providing legal rights to the physical property of the company, information currency is a property title to an individual unit of information, which does not by itself grant any rights or impose any restrictions on the use of that information. A primary user scenario is where the developer of open-source code gets (for example) 100 information currency units for each of their commits to a Subversion repository using icsvn. Each set of ICUs is distinct, representing the specific commit that was used to generate the IC series. Then, if a user of the software wishes, they can purchase the information currency units corresponding to a particularly valuable unit of information, making it possible to compensate developers in a new way. There is no guarantee that the server is authoritative or trustworthy, or that the commits aren't simply garbage - but financial markets for information currency will, I'm sure, handle these issues properly. Eventually, it will be possible to consult prices for the information currency associated with specific units of software to determine the value of that underlying software. Essentially, this is software to allow a server to maintain tradeable property rights that are held (initially) by the creators of information. The property rights do not inherently restrict use or redistribution, and are not intended to, but simply make it possible to manage information in a new way that is under development. I hope this helps. Thanks again for your feedback - I really appreciate it! J. Patrick Bedell [EMAIL PROTECTED] On 8/24/06, Ian Holsman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hi. on the initial read, I wasn't exactly sure what it was this service was doing. although I think I know what a financial instrument is, I've usually only seen them applied to their regular things.. stocks, bonds, futures, options, etc... not information. so I was a bit confused.. who exactly would use this? (a company name would be great here if there is one) and an example of what would be traded.. (are you talking something like DRM here?) Is this software to trade property rights? or to buy futures on a income stream on a piece of information? regards Ian -- Ian Holsman [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://med-chatter.com/ it's about the medicine --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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