15.10.1. "What if someone makes a false accusation?"
- one's belief in an assertion is an emergent phenomenon
+ assertion does not equal proof
- (even "proof" is variable, too)
- false claims eventually reflect on false claimant
15.10.2. Scams, Ponzi Schemes, and Oceania
+ Scams in cyberspace will abound
- anonymous systems will worsen the situaion in some ways,
but perhaps help in other ways
- certainly there is the risk of losing one's electronic
cash very quickly and irretrievably (it's pretty far gone
once it's passed through several remailers)
- conpersons (can't say "con men" anymore!) will be there,
too
+ Many of you will recall the hype about "Oceania," a
proposed independent nation to be built on concrete
pontoons, or somesuch. People were encouraged to send in
donations. Apparently the scheme/scam collapsed:
+ "It turned out to all be a scam, actually. The key
people involved, Eric Kline and Chuck Geshlieder,
allegedly had a scheme set up where they repeatedly paid
themselves out of all of the proceeds." [anonymous post,
altp.privacy, (reprint of Scott A. Kjar post on
Compuserve), 1994-07-28]
- or was it Eric Klein?
By Tim May, see README
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