My question becomes, "Is it harder to crack one encrypted transaction for $10,000, or 100,000 plaintext transactions for the same amount?" Answer: Don't know. That's why I am posting this message. -James Date: Sun, 14 Jan 1996 20:19:24 -0500 (EST) From: "James M. Cobb" <jcobb@ahcbsd1.ovnet.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-cypherpunks@toad.com Precedence: bulk Friend, 01 14 96 Edupage includes: MICROCASH Digital Equipment filed a patent last August for a payment system called Millicent, which enables Web-site operators to charge as little as a tenth of a cent for each customer "hit." The system relies on middle-men --credit card companies or digital banks -- to handle the transactions, but its novelty lies in its cost-effective design geared toward tracking minuscule amounts of cash. To keep disk storage at a minimum, security measures providing privacy and a trail of signed re- ceipts are not included in the system, but proponents point out that would-be cyberthieves would have to crack a lot of trans- actions -- 10,000 at 0.1 cent each -- to make just $10. "There are easier ways to make 10 bucks," says Millicent's inventor. (Business Week 15 Jan 96 p90) Cordially, Jim