On 05/08/2014 06:38 PM, Kristov Atlas wrote:
> We can make this system shutdown-proof by blockchaining it, but of
> course criminals can still attack people in meatspace. Similar challenge
> with LocalBitcoins/Soft ATM approach for exchanging crypto-currencies
> for cash. :-(
>
> Any ideas on how to deal with this weakness?

They can't outlaw people who own cars from giving rides to other people,
they can just outlaw (regulate) the act of doing it for payment.

First thing to do is make it difficult for an uninvolved third party to
prove the any payment has occurred. That's fairly easy to do with you're
talking about decentralized digital currencies.

The second thing to do reduce the risk of a sting operation. This is
basically the same problem that prostitutes run into and one of the ways
that industry solves it is by rating customers.

Driver who are willing to take on the risk of an unrated customer would
charge more and drivers who don't want the risk would charge less.

Perhaps some kind of web-of-trust could be used here, and actually such
a system would have many applications in the informal economy generally.