Forwarded message:
From info@DigiCash.nl Mon May 30 05:44:18 1994 [snip. . .]
[snip. . .]
This, like CommerceNet(tm), seems to be pretty much under construction. The store windows look nice, however...
... David Chaum
On another point, I still think I'm subscribed to imp-interest, the internet mercantile protocol list, though I haven't seen anything much come out of there lately. It got Detweiler-infested and flamed over pretty badly before it went moribund, but I think imp-interest died primarily because implicit in it was a sort of top-down-plan idea that was incongruous with the do-it-first ethic of the internet. Cypherpunks write code, or Chaum does, anyway ;-). At the risk of violating that canon, ( I couldn't code my way out of a paper bag, even though I've designed an application or two) I'd like to start a thread here. Could we talk about IMP here? Here's what I think: 1.) Chaum's e-cash coupled with WWW/Mosaic is a de facto internet mercantile protocol. 2.) It seems to me that that e-cash, contrary to the status quo's thinking, is *critical* to internet commerce. An anonymous cash market is most unrestricted and efficient market there is, because privacy/security (more than trust, I think) is the capstone of any serious transaction mechanism. The imp-interest people seemed to be afraid of e-cash because the Chaum-patent hairball reminded them too much of the RSA/PGP fight, and probably because they didn't want to be associated with any wild-eyed crypto-anarchists(tm). (As a dyed-in-the-wool yellow-dog congenital up-by-your-bootstraps crypto-fascist <gasp> republican, I haven't the slightest idea what they're talking about. . .) 3.) Since a big pile of the discussion on this group lately has been about our collective concerns about an RSA-approved version of PGP, I think there is a real parallel here in e-cash. Not that some enterprising cypherpunk should immediately code up "e-cash for the masses"; that would be way cool but probably not within the second-mortgages of the people here. However, some effort should be made to get Chaum et. al. to see to logic of distributing *both* the "cash-register" and the "wallet" of this e-cash system to anyone who wants it. It seems that, like Mr. Bill (Gates), his real market is the people who make e-cash ("banks", "currency exchanges", "mints"), not the people who use it. Just a second. My flame-suit is around here somewhere... OK. Flame on. Cheers, Bob Hettinga ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com) "There is no difference between someone Shipwright Development Corporation who eats too little and sees Heaven and 44 Farquhar Street someone who drinks too much and sees Boston, MA 02331 USA snakes." -- Bertrand Russell (617) 323-7923