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

["Steve Pagliarulo" <s_pagliarulo@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I think John Aspinall and I are on the same page here. What we are trying to 
achieve -- is to use the net to its maximal advantage to minimize the travel 
of the contestants. All we need to truly verify is "the winners" since even 
if the losers were spoofing the system it does not matter (it would be great 
if the program beat a 7-dan human).

So how do we go about verifying a program was not helped with human 
intervention?

1. For tournament purposes don't allow random play. Allow pseudo random play 
based on an initial seed (to avoid predictability). For verification, the 
seed is disclosed and the program will play identically.

2. In order to avoid programming the game "after the fact", a copy must be 
sent to a trusted party (prior to the tournament) which holds the 
responsibility for verifying a programs authenticity. This can be as simple 
as a binary comparison.

3. The program must then duplicate its play in a controlled environment (for 
verification) to the satisfaction of the Judges.

OK, Shoot holes in it....

Steve


> From: John Tromp <John.Tromp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Reply-To: computer-go@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> To: computer-go@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: computer-go: Authenticating the identity of a remote 
> go-playing computer program
> Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2000 13:10:47 +0100
>
> On Mon, Dec 04, 2000 at 11:10:22PM +0000, Steve Pagliarulo wrote:
> > We might be able to do this if we have the winners later "prove" it was
> > their program that made the moves.
>
> That's easy: My program is
>
> for (;;)
>   play(random legal move);
>
> and the random_number_generator includes such info as cachemisses,
> disk seek latencies, ... (to make it REALLY random:)
>
> More subtle is:
>
> for (;;) {
>   await opponent move;
>   i = current_time_in_microseconds modulo number_of_legal_moves;
>   play(i'th legal move);
> }
>
> So, just what kind of proof do you desire?
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