You Can't Tell Lies on the Socknet

From The Socknet

The Socknet defines a lie as a message attributed to someone who did not create it.

David says Jenny went to USF.

This is only a lie if David didn't say that. Whether Jenny actually attended USF is irrelevant to the Socknet, so it is not a Socknet Lie.

David posted a picture of Jenny.

If David created this content, then this is the truth as far as the Socknet is concerned. If the picture isn't even of a human, this is still not a Socknet Lie. It's an insult.

However, if David did not say the first thing or create the second, then these are lies.

Overall, the system attempts to avoid openings for lying.

Here are the only things of concern:

1. Claiming to be someone you are not.

   This is a feature. You may be whomever you like, on the Internet. It's almost the same as saying someone is in a picture who isn't. The difference is that the imposter is autonomous. These lies are entirely social and of no concern to the system.

   However, in order to avoid these problems, it is good to consider ways to prove a person is who they say. The best way is to establish some kind of communication outside of the system. A complicated form of this would involve exchanging passcodes on paper and then the same codes through the private messaging system. A simple way would be to ask.

   Barring this, providers should show the names of common friends. If A thinks B is B and B thinks C is C, then it's reasonable for A to think C is C.

   In fact, it is important for the provider to inspect new friends and determine if any friends have friends with the same name. A proactive provider might even spider the Socknet, following friend connections and finding users with the same name as one of its users.

   Due to a user's control over his own OpenID webpage, a man-in-the-middle attack is only possible by setting up accounts with different OpenID's than the two parties being proxied, but with the rest of the information identical. So an OpenID determines whether a connection is direct. To ensure this, every communication in the Socknet verifies that the OpenID user has given rights to the provider to speak on their behalf.

2. Writing messages attributed to some other person.

   The system has been changed to remove this issue. Messages are stored on the originator's server and have hashes to ensure accuracy in message forwards. The created function covers messages made by services.

Socknet providers should actively avoid lies by ensuring that the name of person who created the message is listed with it. If a provider makes it clear who is telling the information, then there is no Socknet Lie.