From: Sam Shipman <ses@osf.org>
Date: Sun, 13 Mar 94 17:06:55 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: "Superbills"
Message-ID: <9403140106.AA20768@postman.osf.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



From Charlie Root <root@pizzabox.demon.co.uk>:
>If I'm correct, then the work we're doing here on digital cash and
>mathematically guaranteed unforgeability is going to be taken on board
>by society *much much* sooner than any of us dream.

Well, maybe.  But doesn't the timing of this seem a little suspicious
to you?

"Well, gee, folks, the counterfeiters are just too slick for us.
We'll just have to go to Clipper-protected digital transactions [note: NOT
digital cash] right away.  We sure wish we had time for a national debate,
but those incredibly efficient counterfeiters are inflating the
currency and stealing us blind." -- Notional FBI/ATF/SS line.

>... they're of the quality that suggests they weren't done by hack forgers
>but by a state banking institution with full highly-expensive technical
>resources behind it.

Yeah, but *which* state?  Which state could easily turn out billions
of "incredibly good" counterfeit US bank notes?  Why let some other
country beat you to the punch?  Maybe they're not really counterfeit,
which might be why the SS agent was smirking.

Make no mistake, the U.S. Federal Government wants Clipper, and wants
to abolish cash, so it can spy on every aspect of its citizens lives
with impunity.  They understand the implications, and I wouldn't put
*anything* past them.

--Sam