On Wed, 6 Dec 1995, Timothy C. May wrote:
For example, Sameer's c2.org could issue accounts to people who can prove they are over 18 (notarized copies of birth certif., passport, etc.). Sameer's system would then have a credential saying "this account name is over 18."
Isn't it in the coming that a federal agency, such as the Post Office, will become the primary issuer of age-including 'physical identity' certificates, based on such notarized copies? And store signed public keys for everybody? It certainly is here, and the Swedish Post Office (=Posten, with PostNet) wants to do it all. Perhaps this is tolerable, with the condition that only the 'identity' has access to the private key. Posten has yet not come out in public with any details of their proposed system, such as key-pair generation. Also, I can read in today's paper (in an article flanked by a picture of David Chaum, and mentioning Mark Twain - not by name but as 'an American bank') that EU has given one of three 'IT prizes' to Digicash and that Posten has licensed Digicash and plans to open a mint/bank (Posten already is closely connected to a bank) dealing in Swedish crowns. (This is not news but things seem to be moving right now.) Some (but slight) mention of laundering, of course. It's supposed to come about in 'the beginning of next year'. I wonder how exchanges crowns/dollars will be managed. Perhaps one will have to do it oneself for some time. If Posten doesn't want to deal with it - at least for a start - I'm sure Mark Twain will echange crowns to dollars for a fee, if only Posten's system will be compatible. Lots of questions still in limbo, though. Mats