Zipper writes:

For the most part I have been lurking and thought e$ would be nothing more than a pipe dream, until I saw the beta testing msgs. Now I am a little more interested and I am looking for any and all additional research I can find.

I think it would be kinda nifty to come up with some kinda' experimental beta test here in the States. I'll do some headscratching and see with what I can find out.

I would encourage people *not* to do "Yet Another Digicash Experiment." We've had several, and the problems of digital cash lie in the *launch* of viable, robust systems, not in casual, doomed-to-not-be-successful efforts. (Pr0duct Cypher's "Magic Money" system was considerably better programmed than most such experiments, and yet nobody would bother to try to use it. A less here.)

Only, any system I develop would have to have a centralized database to prevent double-spending and fraud. I don't quite understand how they are going to work around such a problem, and I can probably surmize why the total lack of response from them.

I don't mean to sound harsh to Zipper, but I surmise from his comments here that he has only vague ideas how Chaum's system works, which makes his plan to experiment with a digital cash system...well, I wonn't try to characterize it. People need to read *all* of the papers! Absorb them, work through them, and then make improvements. Recall Stefan Brands' improvements to Chaum's system (Brands was seeking investors/employment...my hunch is that a viable digicash system will come out of a combination of _deep pockets_, a la Visa International, Rupert Murdoch, etc., and _deep knowledge_, a la the researchers who've worked on digicash for years. I'm not saying Zipper can't do what they've failed to do...I'm just dubious. And because every few months, a new bunch of people make claims that they're going to "do" digital cash; usually they don't get much further than naming their product, often something cutesy like the execrable "e$" that someone picked recently. (I'm not a fan of "e$" for lots of reasons.) Folks, you can no more just start "moshing around" on digital money than you can pick up a saw and start doing brain surgery. --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."