I would love to see escrow expand from the realm of high-value purchases to more modest transactions, because it's a pretty good way to promote good conduct online. (Full disclosure: About 12 years ago I built a startup that would do this, but it never took off.)
Imagine signing up for a social-media account that requires a small amount of money -- say $1 to $10 -- be put down as a type of security deposit. If, during your first X days of activity on the site, you flagrantly violate the terms of use (e.g. by spamming lots of other users) you lose the money; otherwise it's returned to you.
If such a system were to become commonplace, it would introduce only a minor amount of friction for most legitimate users, but it would become a great impediment to spammers and other malicious users.
Imagine signing up for a social-media account that requires a small amount of money -- say $1 to $10 -- be put down as a type of security deposit. If, during your first X days of activity on the site, you flagrantly violate the terms of use (e.g. by spamming lots of other users) you lose the money; otherwise it's returned to you.
If such a system were to become commonplace, it would introduce only a minor amount of friction for most legitimate users, but it would become a great impediment to spammers and other malicious users.