So let's break down this idea into a one sentence description:
new tor-like network where you pay a dynamic fee for access that is used to proportionally compensate hubs that constitute the network that is backed by its own bitcoin-like currency
I wouldn't worry about anyone stealing this particular idea and if you truly mean this -> " I don't want compensation for my ideas, I'd just really like to see them become a reality."
just post them for godsake.
I read a ton of writing forums and I see different variants of this "I wanna share my ideas, I'm afraid they'll steal my idea" topic when the truth is, the ideas are never that good or unique.
edit: I hope I don't sound mean, its not my intent ...
No, you don't sound mean at all. And the TOR thing was an example of how to implement my idea. The idea is actually figuring out a dynamic, distributed, trusted, supply chain to make it (nearly) impossible for any one individual to abuse a given service.
The problem with sharing ideas, is that most people offer destructive rather than constructive criticism and often let their mouths start moving before giving their brains time to actually process and understand any given concept. This thread is already an example of this...
My idea is
not about TOR... it's about creating a secure supply chain that people can trust straight up and down. The supply chain would be graded on as many quantifiable metrics as possible. In the case of TOR, it would be capacity, reliability, and performance. Those persons who operate a good, fast, and reliable gateway would be rewarded by those who demand this service. Suppliers would have a strong incentive to make sure they're operating at peak efficiency. If demand outpaces supply, prices go up. As prices go up, there's additional incentive for more suppliers to get into the game, but nobody would be able to saturate the market because doing so would cause prices to crash and would hurt profitability.
Now, instead of moving bits and bytes, let's move wheat... this is not a competing currency, yet it's a $180 billion dollar industry. The farmer buys seed, adds work, and sells the crop. The miller buys the crop, adds some work, and sells flour. The baker buys the flour, adds some work, and sells bread. The cook buys the bread, adds some work, and sells a sandwich. Ultimately, the consumer buys a sandwich and eats it. The money that went into that sandwich gets redistributed up the supply chain, all the way back to the farmer, who could care less if it was a BLT or a Big Mac, while the person eating the sandwich could care less if the wheat came from America, Canada, or China.
If the consumer can't buy a good quality sandwich, he's doing to take his money elsewhere. If the cook can't buy good quality bread, he's going to find a new baker, who will find a new miller, who will find a new farmer... Everyone in the chain has an incentive to produce a quality product at free market pricing. If the farmer produces more wheat than demand calls for, his work is going to waste.
Anyways, I really do want to find other people, preferably people who can actually help me develop this idea into a usable system. To make this happen, we need a suitable service that it can be applied to, and I think TOR would be a good candidate. Other applications might include VOIP, DNS, file storage, database transactions, CPU cycles, etc...
There are also financial services that can be secured using block chains. Imagine a block chain that processed loan transactions. The initial transaction would have things like a hash of the original loan documents, which might include an application and positive identification of the borrower, the loan amount, interest rate, and terms. The miner's job would be to secure that transaction, and at that point, the buyer and seller have confirmation that would stand up in any court of law. The miner would also be responsible for calculating interest, receiving payments on the loan and forwarding the funds to the lender.
What if the lender in the above scenario is actually a corporation, and the payments need to be securely distributed to multiple share holders? Why not have a corporate block chain that can deal with this as well. A transaction would have a specific bitcoin address for receiving payments. Those payments would then be properly distributed to the shareholders listed in that transaction without human intervention or a privately secured processing system that could be manipulated to divert funds away from their rightful owners.
Let's get legitimate for a while, and acknowledge the fact that taxes are a necessary evil. A tax collection chain could really simplify things. A retailer sells a widget for 1BTC that requires a 5% sales tax. The buyer would send 1.05BTC to an address on the tax chain that splits the payment between the retailer and the taxing authority. The whole transaction is completed instantly, and the retailer no longer has the overhead expense of filing his taxes.
There's a LOT of thought that needs to go into each of these ideas, but systems like these will be necessary before Bitcoin can ever become a universally accepted form of currency. As long as it remains underground, it's potential will be limited.
-Prayer
