Pyramid schemes and cryptoanarchy

It seems that pyramid scheme spamming has increased of late (if that is
possible!).  In my lifetime, I can only remember a single snail-mail
instance of a pyramid scheme - over the net it is an entirely different
story (although the number of instances is probably proportional to the
number of lists I subsribe to).  With fully anonymous digital cash will come
the ability to develop untraceable pyramid schemes.  As a staunch believer
in the free market, I find laws against these schemes distasteful, quite
hypocrytical (i.e. Social Security), and soon to be unenforceable.

Pyramid schemes could be a growth market in a crypto-anarchic world.  It is
yet another market such as gambling, or the lottery, that could be conducted
with anonymity.  And it appears to be much more widespread on the internet
currently, even without anonymity.  And unlike gambling or the lottery, the
payoffs could increase greatly should anonymity be available.  

Now, what is the point of this discussion of pyramid schemes?  It is to
bring to light yet another area that will be untouchable by governments.
And I think that it will help continue the development and proliferation of
some of our pet projects, specifically fully anonymous digital cash and
remailers.  Remailer operators could even fund their operations through
pyramid schemes (directly, or indirectly through digital postage stamps).  I
am not, however, advocating spam. I simply see it as a natural extension of
current practice, that may actually provide tangible benefits in the near
future.  

Clay

*******************************************************
Clay Olbon			clay.olbon@dynetics.com
engineer, programmer, statistitian, etc.
Dynetics, Inc.
**********************************************tanstaafl

Clay Olbon II wrote:
> 
> Now, what is the point of this discussion of pyramid schemes?  It is to
> bring to light yet another area that will be untouchable by governments.
> And I think that it will help continue the development and proliferation of
> some of our pet projects, specifically fully anonymous digital cash and
> remailers.  Remailer operators could even fund their operations through
> pyramid schemes (directly, or indirectly through digital postage stamps).  I
> am not, however, advocating spam. I simply see it as a natural extension of
> current practice, that may actually provide tangible benefits in the near
> future.  
> 

I wonder if spammers have already figured out that they can use remailers 
to send spam without being traced.

	- Igor.

Clay Olbon II <clay.olbon@dynetics.com> writes:

> It seems that pyramid scheme spamming has increased of late (if that is
> possible!).  In my lifetime, I can only remember a single snail-mail
> instance of a pyramid scheme - over the net it is an entirely different
> story (although the number of instances is probably proportional to the
> number of lists I subsribe to).

I once received a paper version of the Craig Shergold spam (i.e. a
solicitation of business cards to be sent to the dying boy without any
computer networks being involved) and became curious and looked into why
people spread these memes. It turned out that there's a substantial number
of people involved in marketing/public relations who sort of stay in touch
by forwarding these memes, good luck chain letters, multi-level marketing/
pyramid schemes etc to each other. The MMF spam we see on the net is a
vague echo of the MMF spam moving around USPS, with real cash. Fortunately
most folks involved in this have been too clueless to use the 'net or we'd
see a lot more of it. I suppose if it ever becomes cost-effective to use
digital cash and the Internet for MMF, they'll do it. Thus far putting
MMF on the 'net generally results in the loss of any accounts mentioned
in the spam, so getting cash via USPS is much more effective.

---

Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps

On Sun, 10 Nov 1996, Clay Olbon II wrote:

> Pyramid schemes could be a growth market in a crypto-anarchic world.  It is
> yet another market such as gambling, or the lottery, that could be conducted
> with anonymity.  And it appears to be much more widespread on the internet

How is it like gambling? If I get a pyramid letter instructing me to send 
money to five people on the list, add my name to the bottom, send to 5 
people, or whatever, there's nothing stopping me from removing all the 
names, adding my name and those of four friends, and passing the letter 
along. With an anonymous system, I could easily be all five people, 
without even the bother of getting five different post office boxes.

There's no gambling involved; only blantant stupidity.

The "airplane" game was an interesting slant, though. Because of the 
in-person "airplane" parties, people were able to make contacts and 
network while participating. It was still the same old trick, but some 
may have found the ability to "buy" (and "sell") face time worth the price 
of admission (Some of the "airplane" games going around were to the tune 
of $2500, rather than the usual $5). Your anonymous slant on 
this removes the only economically viable excuse for participating, 
though - I don't even get to meet the head of the umptysquat dept. in 
return for getting fleeced.

The "airplane game" was big around Washington about a year ago, and
involved a number of highly placed people who aught to have been able to 
recognize a Ponzi scheme when it bit them in the ass. Makes me wonder how 
many people are stupid enough to "play" these games. 


-r.w.