[42109] in Cypherpunks
Hack DigiCash: Payee Anonymity
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Name Withheld by Request)
Tue Oct 24 03:56:43 1995
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 1995 08:50:06 +0100
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
From: anon-remailer@utopia.hacktic.nl (Name Withheld by Request)
Well, Sameer is offering a "Hack DigiCash" promotion, in the same spirit as
the hack Netscape and Microsoft offer. However, Chaum is a fairly
experienced cryptographer, and I doubt that there are any major security
flaws in the system. The trial version used RSAREF, so that code at least
was open for your inspection. There is still the possibility of bugs
creeping in when porting to different platforms tho...
I think the most interesting hack to pursue is to eliminate the
payee-nonanonymity problem. The current software uses the following
protocol:
The <--(blinding)--- Client
Bank --(unblinding)-> Client --> Merchant(non-anonymous) --> deposit in bank
The client is anonymous to the bank because of the blinding. What we want
is for the client to be able to pay someone money, and have the recipient
be able to spend the money anonymously. That is, there must be blinding
between the payer and the payee:
The <--(blinding)--- payer <--(blinding)--- payee
Bank --(unblinding)-> payer --(unblinding)-> payee --> payee spends money
The payee generates some digital coins, blinds them, and sends them to the
payer. The payer then makes a withdrawl from his bank account, blinds the
coins again (or not, it really doesn't matter) and sends them to the bank.
The bank signs them, and returns them to the payer. The payer removes his
blinding (if any) and sends them to the payee. The payee unblinds the
coins and spends them at his leisure. Privacy for all involved.
