[47371] in Cypherpunks
Re: new web security product
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steve Gibbons)
Wed Jan 17 03:35:54 1996
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 01:22:00 -700
From: Steve Gibbons <steve@aztech.net>
To: bshantz@nwlink.com
Cc: cypherpunks@toad.com, _steve@aztech.net
# Perry Metzger wrote:
# > I don't think its going to fly. No one wants to pay for an unneeded
# > $100 piece of hardware to encrypt the same credit card over and over
# > again, when a nearly zero marginal cost piece of software can do the
# > same thing.
Merchants might. Current credit-card processing terminals are increadibly
overpriced for what you get. $100.00 plus the price of an inexpensive PC, plus
proprietary software isn't too far of the mark, in comparison.
# I agree with Perry. Hardware encryption does add a layer of security
# not normally found in software, but it is hardware.
I've been a fan of unrelated encryption at each layer of the 7 (5, 4, whatever)
layers, lateley. In military/financial terms, the question of "who has access
to what" and "needs to know what" at different levels of the protocol stack
make a big difference. Network guys should be able to perform traffic
analysis, application guys should be able to debug application-specific
traffic, but not visce versca.
# Shoot, I don't even have a 28.8 modem yet, why would I want a black
# box that supposedly does something with my Credit Cards?
If you think "Not _my_ credit cards, but my _customers'_...", then it starts to
make sense.
--
Steve@AZTech.Net
