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Trust Readings #74

Closed Frijol closed 4 years ago

Frijol commented 4 years ago

To be facilitated by @b5 and @dcwalk. Schedule for 2020 semester here: https://github.com/datatogether/reading_datatogether/issues/71

New technologies attempt to free us from (data) monopolized spaces, but does cryptographic trust truly map onto or enable better human-to-human (or human-to-company or human-to-technology) trust?

We use these issues to solicit additional reading suggestions from the community. Please add suggestions below! Ultimately, the facilitators will choose the reading selections for their session.

Here are some readings that were suggested for this topic in the Data Together Annual Meeting:

dcwalk commented 4 years ago

I'll jump on to Trust with @b5 if you want the company?

b5 commented 4 years ago

I'd love the company!

I don't think I'd be into this as reading group material, but I might be wrong: https://keybase.io/blog/chat-apps-softer-than-tofu

I do find the way that blog post digs in on the UX of trust very interesting

dcwalk commented 4 years ago

Great, looking forward to this!

There is a nice description early in Digital Cash around trust mechanisms rendered digital which might suit :)

Frijol commented 4 years ago

There is some really good stuff in https://dataresponsibly.github.io/courses/spring19/

dcwalk commented 4 years ago

from call:

TODO:

b5 commented 4 years ago

Bitcoin Whitepaper

Here's a link to the white paper. We only need folks to read the introduction: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

Techcrunch Article

I definitely think we should read the techcrunch article: https://techcrunch.com/2015/01/18/after-the-social-web-here-comes-the-trust-web/

I'd love to unpack this quote from the article a bit:

At the center of it, trust is shifting from humans and central organizations to computers and decentralized organizations with an underlying decentralized consensus that governs them.

dot everyone reading

I think we should skip this one. Reading through it, I think it pivots on the phrase technology, while using classical definitions for trust. Unless you saw something in there worth having @dcwalk?

b5 commented 4 years ago

Libra readings

After a bunch of digging, I'd suggest we just go to the source, and read two sections from the updated libra whitepaper: the cover letter, and the section on the libra association.

https://libra.org/en-US/white-paper/#cover-letter

The cover letter paints a very interesting portrait of a project attempting to earn the trust of regulators. The "libra association" section touches on concepts we've come across as a group, wrestling with questions of the intersection of governance & trust.

https://libra.org/en-US/white-paper/#the-libra-association

There are really only three paragraphs from the third section (the first three):

The Association is governed by the Association Council, which is comprised of one representative per Association Member. Each Council representative is entitled to one vote on each matter brought to the Council for approval. Together, they make policy decisions on the governance of the Libra network and Reserve. Currently, the Members consist of businesses and nonprofit organizations from around the world. The Council may delegate its authorities to the board and the executive staff of the Association and rely on the board and the executive staff for the execution of its decisions. Major policy decisions require the consent of two-thirds of the Council representatives, the same supermajority of the network required in the Libra Byzantine Fault Tolerance (LibraBFT) consensus protocol.

Through the Association, the Members will align on the network’s technical roadmap and development goals. In that sense, the Association is similar to other not-for-profit entities — often in the form of foundations — that govern other open-source projects. In December 2019, the Council appointed a Technical Steering Committee (TSC), comprising representatives from five Member organizations, tasked with overseeing and coordinating the technical design and development of the Libra network. As the Libra network relies on a growing distributed community of open-source contributors to further itself, the Association’s TSC is an important vehicle to establish and supervise a process for the community to decide on which protocols or specifications to develop and adopt, as well as to serve as a resource supporting all developers working on Libra-related contributions.

The Association is the parent of Libra Networks, which is the entity directly responsible for operating the Libra payment system, minting and burning Libra Coins, and administering the Reserve. As such, Libra Networks is in the process of applying for a license as an operator of a payment system from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). If and once the payment system license is granted, Libra Networks will be subject to ongoing prudential supervision by FINMA. As a consequence, decisions that affect its license, such as modifications of the rules regarding the administration of the Libra Reserve or the addition of new lines of services, may require the prior approval of FINMA. In addition to its direct supervision of the licensed Libra Networks, FINMA will also supervise the Association and its other subsidiaries on a consolidated basis. Libra Networks is the only party able to create (mint) and destroy (burn) Libra single-currency stablecoins. Single-currency stablecoins are only minted when Designated Dealers have purchased those coins from Libra Networks with fiat assets to fully back the new coins. Single-currency stablecoins are only burned when the Designated Dealers sell Libra Coins to Libra Networks in exchange for the underlying assets. Designated Dealers will have a contractual right to sell single-currency stablecoins to Libra Networks at a price equal to the face value of the underlying fiat currency. These activities of Libra Networks are governed and constrained by a Reserve Management Policy that can only be changed by a Member supermajority, subject to regulatory approval. In addition to the single-currency stablecoins, the Libra network will support multi-currency ≋LBR that will be implemented as a smart contract aggregating single-currency stablecoins using fixed nominal weights (e.g., ≋USD 0.50, ≋EUR 0.18, ≋GBP 0.11, etc.).

These paragraphs define a pretty complex set of relationships between three entities: The Libra Association, The Libra Association Council, and Libra Networks. All of which seemed to be framed to satisfy internal & external questions of trust.

Optional third section: https://libra.org/en-US/white-paper/#an-open-and-competitive-network

dcwalk commented 4 years ago

I'm still into reading the exec summary of the doteveryone for like a landscape/background overview (maybe we mark this optional?)

Into everything else! PRing: https://github.com/datatogether/reading_datatogether/pull/90

b5 commented 4 years ago

Ah good point. I'd skipped the exec summary of doteverything on my second pass. Re-reading it & agree it'd be great to keep as required!

b5 commented 4 years ago

This was a delightful read regarding Facebook's pivot to "Novi" in place of Libra: https://www.stephendiehl.com/posts/novi.html