1993-06-14 - Digital cash software

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From: gnu (John Gilmore)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Message Hash: b7010b097b9812a7116733a54eb317b96703bff4073ea29ce51a61209a348a6a
Message ID: <9306140709.AA05436@toad.com>
Reply To: N/A
UTC Datetime: 1993-06-14 07:09:53 UTC
Raw Date: Mon, 14 Jun 93 00:09:53 PDT

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From: gnu (John Gilmore)
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 93 00:09:53 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Digital cash software
Message-ID: <9306140709.AA05436@toad.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


I spoke with David Chaum, the inventor of digital money, last week at
the cryptography meetings in DC.  He is willing to give us a noncommercial
license to use his digital money patents, and copies of some of his
software for digital cash, for us to deploy somehow, and start using.

He'll be back in August for Crypto '93 in Santa Barbara, and will
bring one of his assistants (Nils) up to the Bay Area to teach us
about the software.  I think we can get a copy from him in the
meantime, and puzzle it out ourselves between now and then.  We'll
also need to work out the legalese on the patents; it should be
simple, but then again, almost everything *should* be simple...

If we have a small group of people (say 2 to 5) who are seriously 
interested in building a digital-cash-on-the-Internet application
and getting it into use, then speak up and get organized, and I
will cross-connect you to David and Nils so things will start moving.

David's company Digicash has been working on toll collection systems;
he showed pictures of their newest system that allows driving full
speed through the tollbooths and still does the transaction, using
infrared through the windshield, I think.  If someone wanted to
present his system and his company to the authoritarians who were last
seen preparing to put unencrypted automated vehicle-ID numbers on cars
in California for toll collection, that would be a good thing.  Speak up...

	John





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