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

[Melvin Carvalho]

On 13 October 2011 22:02, Peter Williams <pwilliams at rapattoni.com> wrote:
> 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).

Sure but TTPs come with a cost.

Bitcoin is p2p and it's exploding

https://www.casascius.com/
http://bitcoinatm.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ-pqo0cLcE

>
>
>
> 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/