Trust and Punishment

In recent years we have witnessed a great increase in the interest in Trust Management (TM) techniques both from the industrial and the academic sectors. The booming research has also determined a duality in the very definition of TM system which can lead to confusion. In one of the two categories of TM systems a great deal of work has yet to be done in advancing the inherently adaptive nature of trust. This position paper examines reasons for the success of TM, the two broad TM categories, and, for reputation-based TM, issues of ‘Regret Management’ and accountability that are necessary enhancements on the road leading to much more sophisticated TM architectures.