Advocacy for Open Exchanges

This blog advocates for open exchanges between seekers and providers. I feel strongly that there is a public good created when exchange spaces are efficient and fair. Efficiency is an economic concept that can be measured in terms of friction between the parties. Fairness is an ethical concept that can be measured in terms of transparency and equality of access.

Other critical norms to me included the capability for exchanges to support, at users discretion, public, private, and anonymous interactions. Public behavior relates to your true identity being known and typically is achieved through having the name you are acting under linked to a verifiable identity marker via Twitter, Facebook, or Google. Private behavior relates to your using a private alias whereby your identity is cloaked from the immediate counter party -- though it may still be knowable to a trusted third party that can validate that your private identity is verifiably attached to your cloaked true identity and payment details. Anonymous behavior relates to using a fully anonymous (even to the exchange) identity that ensures complete privacy for the party concerned.

I support a full statement of principles related to open exchanges and have gathered these values into a statement of advocacy posted at 3taps.com/advocacy. 3taps is the startup that I've founded that focuses on making open exchanges a practical reality for any user and any developer who wants to build on a "data commons" of postings that relate to exchanges between seekers and providers.