-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- I thought about this recently when I bought a subscription to Wired for X-Mas for a friend. Why don't organizations like Wired (who are ostensibly closely connected to the 'net) not have public keys (ie through Viacrypt, as they are a commercial enterprise) that subscription purchasers could encrypt a credit card number to them, and then e-mail that cyphertext file to them for processing. The company could then snail mail to the purchaser confirmation of the cc purchase just like what happens for a credit card phone purchase. It seems straightforward or am I missing something? I mean, PGP is extremely widespread, and other organizations encrypt data for transmission between points with DES, so use of encryption is hardly a novel concept for business to swallow (particularly a magazine like Wired, who likely have a reasonably encryption knowledgeable readership or potential readership). Routine use of encryption at this simple level would likely get the ball rolling in the direction of other endeavors, like e-cash, or at worst become another convenience for the customer and allow encryption and the 'net to gain wider acceptance. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQEVAwUBLu6Cl3BFBj7pSNyhAQGzRQf/WjlkdJaLfTpc8cdDF6EV6IoGN0P0i6l1 dXPMoqRwNn3Aol04pBRQn3+KrK5GaII9ZopRWtEysCzIdv4nbA2t6qLZBZ8oXUgg 3o5Bdp+RIcgXNPtoRmZH5yDGw8kOQqgBH3glWsL25v2BOd87ic10HbhjSZn9FfWD s0qNKFblbqOb6Ur/XZklfjEpPJbE8rvVawt6RQqDO1ky5rKxrgDeGeQVfnu8m7ti fFo9lqTGpBKW9vk8JnTpF5gJvgTcj/iPxNzzeRw6UBD/nIDV2Ttg/lJni5yhGOxe 5LLINeaGVDvtioGbcehz0veXFZ5t7pNJgRxbIIG0AgA+plP0RQdp8A== =iUO3 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----