Nick Szabo’s blog

One of my main interests is the history of institutions, and in
particular the patterns that recur in successful institutions. These
organizational structures and security mechanisms allow naturally
suspicious strangers to interact with integrity.

These patterns include tamper evidence, shared time, unforgeable costliness, separation of duties, the principle of least authority, risk sharing, and learning from our ancestors,
among many others. These patterns have been useful for centuries, and
(I can report after having spent many years working in the computer
network security field) continue to be useful in the Internet era.

Here is the blog.  Here are Nick’s essays.  The pointer comes from Brad DeLong.  Here is Nick on The Playdough Protocols.