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

[David Fotland <fotland@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm not sure that this is possible even in principle.  Certainly the
communication
between programs can be made secure, so that no third party can intervene
between
the programs.  But at each end, progam control must pass to the go engine
code,
written by the go programmer.  The go engine is a black box that is called,
and passes
back moves.  There is no way to prevent a go programmer from enabling his
engine code
to get moves from a person.

If a program were deterministic, you could require the programmer to submit
his
program, and verify after the tournament that it makes the same moves.  But
most
programs are not deterministic.

David

At 12:19 PM 12/4/00 -0800, you wrote:
>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
>
>