Third Parties

Contracting with Third Parties

odels of bilateral contracting, such as the canonical holdup model, typically assume that third parties are not available. Given this assumption, the equilibrium outcome is not first-best efficient if contracts can be renegotiated. To be more specific, suppose an architect and a builder must cooperate to build a building. The quality of the building will depend on three things: the quality of t...

Towards Tiny Trusted Third Parties

Many security protocols hypothesize the existence of a trusted third party (TTP) to ease handling of computation and data too sensitive for the other parties involved. Subsequent discussion usually dismisses these protocols as hypothetical or impractical, under the assumption that trusted third parties cannot exist. However, the last decade has seen the emergence of hardware-based devices that,...

Exploitable Results by Third Parties

Faerieplay on Tiny Trusted Third Parties

Many security protocols refer to a trusted third party (TTP) as an ideal way of handling computation and data with conflicting stakeholders. Subsequent discussion usually dismisses a TTP as hypothetical or impractical. However, the last decade has seen the emergence of hardware-based devices like the IBM 4758 that, to high assurance, can carry out computation unmolested; TPM-based systems like ...

Whose Duties and Liabilities to Third Parties?