Bounty Server, Revisited.

This mechanism (IMO) should be "market" driven, it should allow the 
     community of users to decide which projects should have priority, 
     and which shouldn't.
This mechanism should be as flexible as possible.
This mechanism should be as simple as possible, and as easy to use as
possible.
Originally I proposed this to apply to software, but I don't see why 
     it should stop at software. Initally the server will be restricted 
     to software, but I hope that this will work out, and be expanded 
     further. 
     
The proposal:

    What I am going to attempt to do is to set up a "Bounty Server" where 
    someone can iniate a "bounty" on a peice of technology. The initator
    will write up a set of specifications for the technology, and an initial 
    award to be paid to the developer. They then post it on the server and 
    send their initial "bid" to the organization.  

    This is the "bounty". Other people can add to this bounty, allowing the 
    totals to add until someone claims that bounty by providing proof of 
    development to the initiator of the bounty. In software terms they would 
    upload the software to the server and notify the originator of the bounty,
    and the server operators. Other technology will be figured out as it 
    becomes necessary.

    Originally I was going to put the stipulation in that the software written
    must be Copylefted. I decided that that wasn't really necessary, but
rather simply desired. To aid in that desire, I am going to build in
an initative to releaseing the software "copylefted".
To get more specific:
A bounty is considered to be posted when the initial payment is cleared
by the bank, and the specifications (discussed later are considered clear
enough to avoid interpretation problems.
The initial bounty contract gets posted to the WWW server, (possibly) to
a "developers list" of interested people, and (possibly) to an
appropriate UseNet Newsgroup.
Once the bounty is posted, other people can "bid up" or add to the bounty,
and their contribution will be added to the total bounty as well as their
"name" (email address) added to a list of contributors (unless they
request not to). The amount they gave will not be listed. It isn't 
    important. At this point contributions and initial bids will be 
    accepted by credit card, check, money order, and possibly ecash 
    (e-cash will be taken at some point, but it really isn't important
at this point since almost no one uses it.)
The first developer to upload a _working_ package to the server will
be awarded the total bounty, minus "brokerage" fees (discussed later)
"First" will be soley determined by the time stamp of the server. As soon
as the package is uploaded, the initiator and the server adminstrator
will be notifed, and the bounty marked "claimed". If the package is
accepted by the initiator, the bounty will be marked "closed", the
package moved to an FTP site for distribution (if Copylefted) or
moved offline if not (archived copies will be kept for legal reasons--
more on that later). At that point a check for the developer will
be cut (or ecash mailed if that works out).
The Server Adminstrator will also do an cursory check to make sure that
there are no obvious copyright violations.
In the event that there is a conflict between the initiator and the
developer, the claim will go into adjudication. The server adminstrators
decesion is final, and he will make every effort to settle the claim
fairly. Adjudication will incur an additional fee (see the fees section).
Writing the bounty:
The bounty specifications should include the following:
1) Target Operating Enviroment (i.e. Operating System for Software, and
whatever for other technology)
2) What the desired technology is intended to be used for (i.e. a
Word Processor, a Hardware RNG etc, whatever)
3) Desired Characteristics of the technology--specific features
of the technology. It isn't enough to say that you want a 
       word processor, you must specify minimum features you wish this 
       technology to contain (i.e. WYSIWYG, Postscript output, Outliner etc.)

    4) Desired "quality" level: Proof of Concept, Alpha, Beta, Release etc. 

    5) Copyright status desired--whether the software will be owned by the 
       initiator of the bounty (in which case it is unlikely that anyone 
       else will contribute), owned by the programmer (well someone might
       be that magnanomous), or "copylefted".

    6) Where the initiators money is to go if the bounty is not claimed: 
       I will provide a short (8 or 10) list of charities that the money 
       will go to if the bounty is not met. This is to keep the initiator
       honest, as well as the server. Each contributor will also get this 
       choice. 

    I am sure that I am missing something here, and I will need some 
    assistance in fleshing this out, as well as a couple of people to write
    different specs as examples.  

Adding to the bounty:

    The bounty will be considered added to when the deposit clears and 
    is credited by the bank. 

    A person adding to the bounty will also be allowed to choose from the 
    list as to where they would like their money to go if the bounty 
    expires.   
 
Fees:

    The Organization will get 2% of any bounty where the software or 
    Technology that is copylefted. 20% of any other scheme.
 
    Adjudication will incur an additional fee of 2 to 5% depending on the 
    difficulty in judging the claim. 

    All interest that acrues belongs to the Organization, and will be used 
    to defray any costs, or to provide for additional bounties should there
    be an apprecialble excess.

Status:

    At this point in time I am (obviously) still in the process of developing 
    the procedures. I have registered a Domain Name (bounty.org) and I have 
    a couple promises off assistance in certain areas. As well, I have 
    a server to start off with.  
 
Where I need help at this point: 

    Legal issues. Any lawyers want to talk to me about this? 
 
    Comments. 

I will be working on this, revising it, and soon I will be putting it up on 
www.bounty.org.  

Postmodernism is the refusal to think--Ron Carrier            petro@suba.com 
Deconstruction is the refusal to believe that anyone else can either.
Revolution and War are not murder unless you lose. This is a basic tenet 
of civilization.--Jim Choate on the cpunks list.