-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- This idea just popped into my head, just as I was about to fall asleep. Being the idiot that I am, I had to get up to write it down. This idea has probably been presented before...but I haven't seen it here yet. Let's suppose myself and 10,000 of my closest friends form the First National Cypherpunk Bank and Trust. We go through all of the hassles in order to be the issuer of a Master Card or Visa. Now instead of having a credit line, it is set up as a debit card. The card's limit is how ever much you have prepaid the bank in advance. Once you have hit your prepaid amount the card no longer gets approved. Now because everything is prepaid, there is no risk to me, so I'll put any name you want on the card. The questions I have are: Is this legal in the U.S.? If so, is anyone doing it? If it's not legal in the U.S., is it legal anyplace else. If this is a gray area, why wouldn't this scheme work? If this scheme was set up, it appears to me that the infrastructure for anonymous payments/netcash is already in place. Of course the issuer would get a healthy fee for issuing the card...but then again, there truly is no such thing as a free lunch. As my 10,000 friends and I have no plans to set this up, feel free to pick it apart at will. (which I'm sure it will be) Sam ============================================================================== There is an order of things in this universe. -- Apollo, "Who Mourns for Adonais?" stardate 3468.1 ============================================================================== skaplin@skypoint.com | Finger skaplin@infinity.c2.org for | a listing of crypto related files PGP encrypted mail is accepted and | available on my auto-responder. preferred. | (Yes...the faqs are there!) | E-mail key@four11.com for PGP Key or | "...vidi vici veni" - Overheard Finger skaplin@mirage.skypoint.com | outside a Roman brothel. ============================================================================== -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQEVAwUBLwe/6clnXxBRSgfNAQGZBAf9FAHHsI63OJ1uQo4SGAggs6Mk7BAe8Ysm oxibQfvNMN0dSPdyLjHutEm5/rtyTrRjU731QRQSDLUi0LSC9I0N5/cQsGeI+VV8 kAIiuHDq1eF4oZmZTuKIcKz42THliSAhSTkmpL8dZvcU3sJVPwIfGK5dNbQyUQHw J33h74Vg1jRIkeoodnAtTXPeUKi5HkcAp95zt8C/tGpke4+fx8QhqHSAvJgJoGdL a8clRTdilqwDfrdQlpgKHt33T5aLiYuQA8m9NpMiDKw/wEF+XvMrHYrksIUyQ2ZD gllxFl0WJcarRZTnIgtgAdA+hzQCbkfG10kcZUVTzquGcrgiKnp9ug== =l5Mr -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----