At 7:35 PM 8/28/94 +0100, p.v.mcmahon.rea0803@oasis.icl.co.uk wrote:

An "internet economy" needs a basis of trust, as well as security mechanisms appropriate for the current level of IP security. What basis of trust do you envisage?

Most of this can be done in civil law. It's done all the time in the securities markets. If you have certificate which is collateralized, by an agreement between the issuer and the purchaser, and thus the entire transaction chain until the certificate is redeemed, monitored by an independent trustee, then you have a stable exchange mechanism for internet commerce. International trades of securities like this are made in amounts in the trillions of dollars every day. All collateralized bonds have this feature. The extension of this to an offline digital cash issuance agreement is trivial. Secure transactions are here already. They're obtained by using public key crypto to pass transaction information, including the digital certificates and any information or software, or purchase order/invoice, between buyer and seller. Cheers, Bob Hettinga ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com) "There is no difference between someone Shipwright Development Corporation who eats too little and sees Heaven and 44 Farquhar Street someone who drinks too much and sees Boston, MA 02331 USA snakes." -- Bertrand Russell (617) 323-7923