From: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 95 11:06:25 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Errors in the Cyphernomicon FAQ
Message-ID: <acabdf373d0210046595@[205.199.118.202]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 4:29 PM 10/19/95, Scott Brickner wrote:
>Andreas Bogk writes:
...
>>
>>In the Cyphernomicon, section 12.6.6, Tim May writes:
>>
>>             - Chaum went to great lengths to develop system which
....

>>But as far as I got Chaums idea, Alice would not reveal Bobs identity,
>>but rather her own. Am I missing a point here?
>
>You're right.  Tim's wrong.  Bob can't spend the money Alice gave him
>without depositing it in the bank and getting new money issued.  Each
>coin has "This money was issued to Alice" as an invisible imprint which
>only shows up when two coins with the same serial number are together.

Well, it's surely not the only error in my Cyphernomicon FAQ.

I might say I'll correct mistakes pointed out to me, except that there may
never be a second edition of that Cyphernomicon--the work to make changes
and then upload copies is just too staggering, and I've happily put aside
plans to keep it "current" with the flood of new stuff coming over the list
everyday.

As I've said in earlier explanations, I wrote the thing because people were
always clamoring "Where's the FAQ? How come there's no FAQ? I want to see a
FAQ!" After several people volunteered to work on a FAQ, and none appeared,
I stupidly volunteered. Eventually, 8 months later, my Cyphernomicon
appeared.

And, sure enough, there have been calls recently for a "new FAQ."
Complaints that the Cyphernomicon is "too long" and that it "doesn't have
anything on the Netscape hacks." Well, be my guest. But beware the problem
that topics drift in and out of au courancy (probably not a valid word),
that today's big focus on bugs in Netscape is perhaps not what a FAQ on
Cypherpunks issues might want to emphasize.

But, nobody's stopping others from writing FAQs.

--Tim May

Views here are not the views of my Internet Service Provider or Government.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
Corralitos, CA              | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^756839      | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."