Internet drivers/business license - Re: [ga] price policy

[Karl Auerbach <karl@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Esther Dyson wrote:
> However, we *do* license drivers (the license is costly) and we take 
> those licenses away from drunk drivers.

Indeed.

Over the last few years I have come to the opinion that we do need 
something that I call an "internet business license".

Now, I don't mean a governmentally issued thing.

Rather, I mean something that is issued by private companies that 
indicates that they a) know who the person holding the license and b) 
that that person has done something (I don't quite know what it ought to 
be) to demonstrate that they are a valid person.

The license doesn't say "this person will do no wrong", only that we can 
find out, if they are accused and the accusation is backed by sufficient 
evidence, who they are.

Internet consumers would have to learn to be very wary of those who can 
not present such a license - this doesn't mean that they should not be 
wary of those who have the license, but at least those latter folks 
aren't completely anonymous.

This would eliminate the need for "whois".

I see this kind of system evolving on its own via the web trust labels 
from various companies.  And it seems to be evolving so that it is 
mechanized, on the web at least, via HTTPS through the chains of 
certificate delegations back to a known certificate authority.

One trouble is that certificates are still too expensive.  And 
competition to reduce those prices is limited because the certificate 
authorities, to be usable, must be recognized by Internet Explorer, 
Firefox, and other principal browsers.

		--karl--