On Tue, 3 May 1994 smb@research.att.com wrote:
This underscores what I've said in the past about anonymous digital cash: it's not going to go anywhere unless folks are willing to pay a premium for privacy. There are too many sound reasons for keeping audit trails (debugging, fraud detection, marketing analysis, etc. --
Something overlooked in the real world that encourages the maintenance of private payment systems (cash) is th existence of a large number of people with bad credit. About 20% of the US population has neither credit cards nor checking accounts. Some of this is because of personal preference but a lot of it is because these people can't handle something as abstract as a checking account without wrecking it. They *need* cash which will enable them to use the simple budget process of adjusting to declining balances. Thus, we see the recently introduced computer phonecards which you can use to buy long distance phone service in advance for cash. No hassles with telephone account which tend to require a fixed address in any case. Note also the popularity of secured credit cards which are now issued by a score of financial institutions. There will continue to be a big market for "cash" to serve this market. DCF "If I had recently proposed to increase the American people's taxes by $600,000,000,000 a year, *I* wouldn't want them to have assault rifles either." - DCF Note - Last October, William Jefferson Blythe Clinton proposed to increase our taxes by $600,000,000,000 a year or so.