computer-go: Authenticating the identity of a remote go-playing computer program

["Bob Myers" <rtm@xxxxxxx>]

Is it possible to authenticate the identity of a remote computer program
playing a game of go?

In Guiyang last month, I was talking with a go programmer, discussing the
possibility of having computer go tournaments on the net instead of in one
physical location.  I know that there are already tournaments being held on
the net, but the stakes are not high enough to motivate anyone to cheat.  If
a large amount of prize money were at stake, on the other hand,
unfortunately there might be people who would try to cheat (for instance, by
having a 7-dan human pretend to be the computer).  Thus, we need a way to
reliably authenticate the identity of a remote computer program playing a
game of go.

I know just enough about public-key encryption techniques and digital
signatures to believe that this is possible.  I hope that experts on this
list can shed some light on how it might work.  It would be ideal if a
standard could be established that eventually all go programs might adhere
to and thus allow more tournaments to be held on the net.

Bob Myers
IntelligentGo Foundation
www.intelligentgo.org