CDR: Re: Authenticate the "adult field", go to jail...

obvious at beta.freedom.net obvious at beta.freedom.net
Wed Nov 29 15:40:53 PST 2000


The point is, RAH claimed that selling adult verification services using
bearer credentials would be safe because, get this, the porn merchants
would pay the verification service using anonymous ecash!

First, there is no ecash and so this isn't a reasonable first step
towards getting bearer credentials established and in use.

Second, the supposed safety and blindness to the evilness of the business
partners is solely due to the ecash.  The verification service could
use simple credit card numbers and passwords exactly as is done today,
and still get all the benefits of deniability with regard to knowledge of
the evil wares being sold.  It is the ecash which provides the blindness
on that side.  Blinding the customers doesn't help at all in that regard.

So RAH was doubly wrong to imply that bearer credentials would have helped
out in this case where an age verification service is being prosecuted
because one of their clients is selling kiddy porn.

And if you can think outside the cypherpunk box for a minute, maybe
this will shed a little light on why the MTB didn't get into bed with
pornographers.  If RAH thinks he can con people into building a business
on this model he better think again.

Obvious.

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