Prof. Niv Gilboa

We introduce the notion of digital arbitration which enables resolving disputes between servers and users with the aid of arbitrators. Arbitrators are semi-trusted entities in a social network that facilitate communication or business transactions. The communicating parties, users and servers, agree before a communication transaction on a set of arbitrators that they trust (reputation systems may support their choice). Then, the arbitrators receive digital goods, e.g. a deposit, and a terms of use agreement between participants such that the goods of a participant are returned if and only if the participant acts according to the agreement.