The Darker side of the Honor System.

In yesterday's essay, I mostly talked about the usability and cost issues related to Amazon's new Honor System service. Dave and Doc's first response was to wonder if they are patenting this system. An excellent question. On this, Dan Gillmor writes, "At Dave Winer's suggestion, I've also asked Amazon's PR folks twice now whether they're trying to obtain a patent on the Honor System. They haven't responded to that question, even though they've answered other ones." Dan also brings up some very good points about the privacy implications of AHS. Do you want Amazon following you around the web? Makes me think there's more reason for the name "Honor System" than meets the eye. Perhaps they're trying to overide these obvious concerns by doing everything they can to inspire trust?