[11777] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Random Thoughts Regarding RSA/NCSA/EIT
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Bruce Gingery)
Tue Apr 19 05:59:46 1994
Date: Mon, 18 Apr 1994 21:18:38 -0600 (MDT)
From: Bruce Gingery <lcbginge@antelope.wcc.edu>
To: "Rob Raisch, The Internet Company" <raisch@internet.com>
Cc: Pat Farrell <pfarrell@netcom.com>, com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.85.9404181116.A14446-0100000@hmmm>
On Mon, 18 Apr 1994, Rob Raisch, The Internet Company wrote:
>
> On Sun, 17 Apr 1994, Pat Farrell wrote:
>
> > >> Assume we still use credit card numbers for the financial part.
> >
> > Or digital cash. Cash was once legal tender.
>
> Hmmm... digital cash is an oxymoron. You cannot have digital cash since
> the very nature of cash is its physicality. The protections that cash
> offers against duplication are all physical and economic. It costs more
> to copy money than its face value.
>
> Even in a scenerio where each transaction is handled in real-time with
> the issuing agency (bank), all I have to do is "become you" and then your
> "cash" is mine.
Actually "cash" is the concept of acceptable legal tender without
regard to the bearer, rather than the form of it -- and EVERYTHING prior
to electronic forms are "physical"
Bearer bonds -- are bearer, but promissory notes, not "cash"
Checks -- are keyed to payer, and usually payee.
Money Orders -- are slightly less tied to payer and payee
(have you ever "cashed" a MO you purchased and later
found that the transaction for which it was purchased
was falling through. I have, though I was the
"purchaser" not the payee of the MO)
"Cash" - could be big stones with a hole in the middle, coinage, gold
nuggets or equivalent chunks of other "precious" metals, or whatever is
accepted as an anonymous medium of exchange. The "cash" in your wallet is
not even a promissory note, and has intrinsic value only by legislation
and agreement. The varying engraving "tricks" and the special paper on
which it is printed helps prevent counterfeit, but does not affect it's
position as "cash". The older (in most case out of circulation) "Gold",
and then "Silver" Certificates were actually promissory notes, though the
concept was bogus since for a significant part of the time US Citizens
could not "cash" them for their "face value" in gold or silver.
The things that make cash cash are:
1. Anonymity. The "bearer" holds the value.
2. Acceptance, Transactions may be supported by the "cash" being
passed between any two individual or corporate entities.
The distiction between "barter" and "cash transactions" are an
artificiality constructed by the taxing authorities.
Bruce Gingery
