CDR: Re: Amex supports CARNIVORE enabled Anonymity System

[Kerry L. Bonin]

>(1) Okay, I *might* :-) excuse Mondex from this rule, I suppose, but only
>because the smart-cards themselves are physically swappable, and thus at
>the physical, card-to-card level, anyway, are bearer instruments, but I
>would only say so under a regime in which those cards *contents*, the
>balances therein, are exchangeable for, or better, denominated, in some
>*other* internet bearer instrument like Chaumian cash, which may, I'm
>afraid, defeat the economics of Mondex altogether. Obviously, Doug Barnes
>has pointed this out more than once or twice here and elsewhere.

The indirect problem with Mondex is that while the card-to-card level
transactions are theoretically less traceable than a typical online
validation, they (the cards themselves) still store at least 10 previous
transaction records including full card id.  Additionally, every programmer
of Mondex interface devices and terminals (including myself, at one time)
gets ordered by at least one involved party (the bank, the terminal
manufacturer, the terminal financier, ect.) to include full audit trail
generation from card-chip and any downloaded card-card transaction
histories for uploading as part of nightly settlement.  (Which is why I
stopped supporting Mondex...)  This defeats the otherwise good anonymity
possible with Mondex.