Stanton McCandlish writes:
See current (July 1994) _BoardWatch_, pp. 60-63. There's an article on an e-money scheme called NetCash. Unfortunately it is utterly stupid, but BW is giving it a semi-endorsement. Some of you d-c afficionados might like to disabuse them of some notions.
Some of the flaws:
1) not cryptographically secure ...rest of flaws elided...
Indeed, there are many kinds of "digital cash" or "digital money" being floated. I suspect the term is about to join "Information Superhighway" and "infobahn" in the popular media. But all but a very few of them are polar opposites of what we as Cypherpunks want. Microsoft wants home banking, VISA wants it, and various cryptographically-incompetent schemes are being proposed. As you on this list all know, these are Bad Ideas. What we can do to head them off or to deploy the right kinds of systems is the challenge ahead of us. Our apparent victory in the Clipper matter (the public scorn for Clipper, the editorials against it, the weaknesses exposed, and the favorable articles about CPs) may serve us in good stead. But it will be a tough struggle, as things are moving fast behind the scenes. (My greatest fear: legislation to support home/cable banking, with restriction on competitors.) --Tim May -- .......................................................................... Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@netcom.com | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero 408-688-5409 | knowledge, reputations, information markets, W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments. Higher Power: 2^859433 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available. "National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."