The State of Texas rolled out a new cash card today (at a demo, the real rollout is Oct. 1), intended to replace food stamps over within two years. This card is to be used like bank ATM card, so none of the parties are private, and thus this isn't digital cash in the strong crypto/cypherpunks sense. A user swipes the card at a grocery store and then enters a PIN, which causes a transfer of funds from the Department of Human Services (or something like that) to the store. The Comptroller states that this system will lower costs through reduced paperwork and reduced fraud. Who knows, perhaps the checkout scanner logs can be sold for a profit to various companies too! ;) Anyway, just thought I'd mention it - this fits in with various predictions by Tim that an outright ban on cash will begin with steps like this. -- Karl L. Barrus: klbarrus@owlnet.rice.edu 2.3: 5AD633; D1 59 9D 48 72 E9 19 D5 3D F3 93 7E 81 B5 CC 32 2.6: 088C8F21; 97 73 9E 8B 98 3E DD B5 E8 97 64 7E 20 95 60 D9 "One man's mnemonic is another man's cryptography" - K. Cooper