2.2.1.3 Case Management

return to Fundamental Views

A major problem confronting DIDO Communities is the development of customer support to deal with issues encountered with either DIDO Transactions, Smart Contracts (especially those written externally by third parties), or DIDO OSS. For example, people have come to expect that when they use financial services, there will be recourse if transactions have unintended consequences. Recently, Coinbase, which provides an easy-to-use service for trading cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum, was hit with class action lawsuits alleging insider trading and also unlawful and unfair business practices.1) S. Chang, “Coinbase Hit with 2 Class Action Lawsuits: Accused of Insider Bitcoin Cash Trading,” 4 March 2018. [Online]. https://www.investopedia.com/news/coinbase-hit-2-class-action-lawsuits-accused-insider-bitcoin-cash-trading/ In traditional banking, lack of recourse was part of the motivation behind the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act 2) Investopedia, “Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act,” http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dodd-frank-financial-regulatory-reform-bill.asp. , especially Section 1034 “Response to Consumer Complaints and Inquiries.” 3) International Association of Risk and Compliance Professionals (IARCP), “Dodd Frank Act Text Section 1034,” 2010. http://www.dodd-frank-act.us/Dodd_Frank_Act_Text_Section_1034.html. Case Management must be applied to both of the organizational parts of DIDO Communities: software and fungible data (i.e. currency) management.

There are several categories of problems that can arise in a distributed system:

Those involving distributed dataThose involving the software used to distribute the dataThose on a local node (machine)

Problems with Distributed Values (Domain Issues)

Problems that arise on the node network with the values stored on a node or set of nodes are generally domain issues. These cases generally have to do with the implementation of a DIDO Domain (i.e., Bitcoin cryptocurrency versus the Bitcoin platform). Therefore, the case is reported to the DIDO Domain. If the problem can be resolved at the domain level that's as far as the case needs to go. However, sometimes these cases need to be resolved at the domain and platform levels, thereby requiring two cases.

Problems with Distributed Software (Platform Issues)

Problems that arise on the node network having to do with conflicts in valid values stored on a node or set of nodes are generally platform issues. Generally, there should be no conflict with the values on any of the nodes since the DIDO implementations employ consensus methodologies, which form a large part of the added value of the individual DIDO platforms. For example, Bitcoin uses a Proof of Work (POW) methodology, whereas Ethereum and others use a Proof of State (PoS) methodology.

Problems with Node

Sometimes a node within the node network has problems. In a DIDO that has built-in redundancy, validation, and verification, this is generally not a problem and should be handled by the the original design. However, if nodes with a particular configuration (i.e., hardware, operating system, patches, security software, network cards, etc.) have issues, this could have consequences on the overall health of the domain.

Summary

Regardless of the location of the source for the case, most domains or platforms use Open Source Software and a bug tracking process based on a particular bug tracking tool such as Bugzilla, Jira, or Git-bug.

Generally, when consensus is reached for the correct value and requires a software upgrade, these cases are resolved using a Soft Fork. When consensus cannot be reached, a Hard Fork can occur within the domain.

Standards

Technical Standards

de facto Standards

Tools