-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- There are a couple of issues here. One is whether you could get a debit card with another name printed on it than your own. Sandy Sandfort and some others have suggested here that this would be legal and possible already as long as you don't do it with the intention to commit fraud. You can open a secured account by mail and give a false name. I'm not sure what you do in this situation if they ask to see some ID when you try to use the card. This would be rather embarrassing, it seems to me. Sorry, I guess I left my drivers license in my other pants... Or, never mind, try this card. That other one was from before I changed my name... The other issue is whether you could set up a payment system which did not require social security numbers from the participants. I think this is much more questionable. Although the phone cards and some other restricted usage systems are apparently legal, bank accounts seem to have many more restrictions. Barter and scrip systems are also heavily regulated. All these laws involving reporting requirements, etc., were passed to help the government track the flow of money. There is no way the government is going to make an exception at this point. In fact, I suspect that if the limited systems expanded to where they were used for general payments, the government would crack down. I recall reading that just such a crackdown occured in Las Vegas when casino chips started to be accepted for non-gambling payments. So, you may be able to have a form of anonymity from the person you are transacting with, but I don't think you can be anonymous from the bank and from the government. And personally, I am more concerned about the bank and gov't tracking my spending patterns than whether the guy I buy gas from knowing my name. The bank has a lot more information about me which is much more threatening to my privacy. A nom de guerre VISA or debit card does not seem to help this problem. Hal -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6 iQBVAwUBLwhuNRnMLJtOy9MBAQEkPQIAqEEglLxt8E4Rrgh7dR93fuCSJUI+UMgF 3XUrsTxM4whOejFMrluOAYM+2RdBOgYTk1mNEiAgSUPLLScIa9zU5A== =CF5G -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----