From Charlie Root <root@pizzabox.demon.co.uk>: If I'm correct, then the work we're doing here on digital cash and mathematically guaranteed unforgeability is going to be taken on board by society *much much* sooner than any of us dream.

Well, maybe. But doesn't the timing of this seem a little suspicious to you? "Well, gee, folks, the counterfeiters are just too slick for us. We'll just have to go to Clipper-protected digital transactions [note: NOT digital cash] right away. We sure wish we had time for a national debate, but those incredibly efficient counterfeiters are inflating the currency and stealing us blind." -- Notional FBI/ATF/SS line.

... they're of the quality that suggests they weren't done by hack forgers but by a state banking institution with full highly-expensive technical resources behind it.

Yeah, but *which* state? Which state could easily turn out billions of "incredibly good" counterfeit US bank notes? Why let some other country beat you to the punch? Maybe they're not really counterfeit, which might be why the SS agent was smirking. Make no mistake, the U.S. Federal Government wants Clipper, and wants to abolish cash, so it can spy on every aspect of its citizens lives with impunity. They understand the implications, and I wouldn't put *anything* past them. --Sam