[foaf-protocols] [foaf-dev] A FOAF 2 FOAF (micro) payment system

[Peter Williams]

Be nice to finish webid first, since the number of users in the world is less than 100, and the transaction rate is probably about 3 a month.

Unless of course we get real, and realize that webid has failed to "make its case" in the IDP/SSO world now performing a billion+ web transactions a day. In this case, we argue:  one needs a new adoption driver - one that more closely embodies the webiness that WILL showcase what FOAF/webid has (theoretically) to offer.

I find it hard to believe in P2P payments, personally ; due to the nature of society, which prefers TTPs in charge of larger payment flows. It's the accountability and auditability factors that come into play (vs privacy and convenience).

From: foaf-dev-bounces at lists.foaf-project.org [mailto:foaf-dev-bounces at lists.foaf-project.org] On Behalf Of Melvin Carvalho
Sent: Saturday, July 24, 2010 5:02 AM
To: foaf-protocols at lists.foaf-project.org; foaf-dev Friend of a
Subject: [foaf-dev] A FOAF 2 FOAF (micro) payment system

Introduction
===========

I would like to propose a simple FOAF 2 FOAF payment system, also describing a reference implementation.

The system should be as easy as typing on the command line :

$ pay toby 1.23

>> Processing ...
>> Payment Successful!  $1.23 has been paid to Toby Inskster


Design
======

1. For this exepriment I'm going to use FOAF / WebID [1] as the primary key, and bitcoin P2P crypto currency [2] as a reference payment system.

2. Setup: the system will have your WEBID set as an environment variable, and also the bitcoin payment system running on your machine

3. A command script pay <recipient> <amount> will invoke a script that will continue processing

4. Recipient is checked against entries in your foaf:knows via sparql.  It can be a webid or a partial name match.

5. Once the recipient webid is known a payment system is looked for via SPARQL.  Here is a proposal of how bitcoin will look:

  <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://foaf.me/melvincarvalho#bitcoin1">
      <ns0:accountServiceHomepage
               rdf:resource="http://www.bitcoin.org/"/>
      <ns0:accountName>1J4F6Beb2zFSuoyj15mdhw3HA7KkEVa8DS</ns0:accountName>
  </rdf:Description>

6. SPARQL for the account name and use that as the payment address

7. Run the payment command such as ./bitcoin sendtoaddress 1J4F6Beb2zFSuoyj15mdhw3HA7KkEVa8DS <amount>

8. Report success / failure


Extending the system
=================

I think this system would work fine for FOAF using the bitcoin system.  But further work could be to extend to other payment systems and delivery mechanisms.  For example, email, much like paypal do.

I'd encourage FOAFers to play around with bitcoin, and I'm very happy if anyone wants to experiment further with this tech.


[1] http://esw.w3.org/WebID
[2] http://www.bitcoin.org/
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