Anyway, back to cryptography, I do suspect that the government will eventually point to digital cash as justification for controlling all of cryptography. Or they will refuse to back it up in court as legal tender, thus helping undermine it. I know there's this concept called "reputation" that's supposed to take the place of the government enforcing contracts, but I have a hard time understanding just how it will work for very large transactions between individuals (like buying a house or even a used car).
Phil
Think of ATM's... we use them and assume that our money is safe... people are comparing credit cards to digital cash... the main difference is that the credit-card companies guarantee payment, and it's NOT OUR MONEY... also.. we get receipts for ATM transactions, would we get encrypted receipts by e-mail that contained transaction info in a verifiable format? Would it be possible for a third party to somehow carbon-copy all of your receipts to them? It's mind-boggling, the need for security as the computer age rules our lives... Anthony Ortenzi ao27+@andrew.cmu.edu