[11818] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Random Thoughts Regarding [cash]
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Peter Deutsch)
Thu Apr 21 04:43:37 1994
From: Peter Deutsch <peterd@bunyip.com>
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 1994 21:38:07 -0500
In-Reply-To: Roger Bohn's message as of Apr 19, 11:12
To: Rbohn@ucsd.edu (Roger Bohn),
"Rob Raisch, The Internet Company" <raisch@internet.com>,
Pat Farrell <pfarrell@netcom.com>
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
Hi,
[ You wrote: ]
. . .
> You are both right. Most of Peter D's note makes sense, except that it
> mixes CASH and MONEY. CASH is a physical instantiation (sp?) of money.
> So digital cash _is_ an oxymoron.
Except that as someone else has pointed out, in this
particular case it is the name David Chaum uses for his
system, so my lapse from terminological grace is perhaps
understandable... :-)
> But there are lots of other kinds of money. Something like 99%+ of the
> value of all money transfers between banks accounts now goes
> electronically, for example. The world's economy already runs on digital
> money, handled between banks. This is an "existence proof" that it's
> possible to create a system secure enough for use with very large monetary
> transactions. I have no idea how it is done, except that physical security
> at both ends is part of it.
The interesting thing about Chaum's work is that if I
recall correctly, their is some physical security required
within smart cards, but essentially no armed guards at
Internet off-ramps are needed.
On the same topic, someone responding to my posting was
thoughtful enough to go find the actual reference to the
article I mentioned and send it along. I don't want to
mention their name since they didn't reply to the list,
but for those who care here's the info:
. . .
> I popped into Cal's MELVYL database to get the reference for that
> David Chaum article you referred to. Got an abstract, too. For
> your information...
> ----
> Chaum, David.
> Achieving electronic privacy. (blind signature technology)
> Scientific American v267, n2 (August, 1992):96 (6 pages).
>
> Abstract:
> Stored personal data can be linked by different organizations in the US,
> because Social Security card is used as the common key. A new system has
> been developed based on advances in cryptology which allows more privacy
> and more private control. The new technology, based on a digital signature,
> is discussed.
>
- peterd
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