From: tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)
Date: Mon, 15 Aug 94 19:32:07 PDT
To: turner@telecheck.com (Zipper)
Subject: The Difficulties of Doing Digital Cash Casually
In-Reply-To: <9408160122.AA00880@TeleCheck.com>
Message-ID: <199408160232.TAA25854@netcom15.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Zipper writes:

> For the most part I have been lurking and thought e$ would be nothing more
> than a pipe dream, until I saw the beta testing msgs.  Now I am a little more
> interested and I am looking for any and all additional research I can find.
>  
> I think it would be kinda nifty to come up with some kinda' experimental
> beta test here in the States.  I'll do some headscratching and see with
> what I can find out.

I would encourage people *not* to do "Yet Another Digicash
Experiment."

We've had several, and the problems of digital cash lie in the
*launch* of viable, robust systems, not in casual,
doomed-to-not-be-successful efforts. (Pr0duct Cypher's "Magic Money"
system was considerably better programmed than most such experiments,
and yet nobody would bother to try to use it. A less here.)

> Only, any system I develop would have to have a centralized database
> to prevent double-spending and fraud.  I don't quite understand how
> they are going to work around such a problem, and I can probably
> surmize why the total lack of response from them.  

I don't mean to sound harsh to Zipper, but I surmise from his comments
here that he has only vague ideas how Chaum's system works, which
makes his plan to experiment with a digital cash system...well, I
wonn't try to characterize it.

People need to read *all* of the papers! Absorb them, work through
them, and then make improvements. Recall Stefan Brands' improvements
to Chaum's system (Brands was seeking investors/employment...my hunch
is that a viable digicash system will come out of a combination of
_deep pockets_, a la Visa International, Rupert Murdoch, etc., and
_deep knowledge_, a la the researchers who've worked on digicash for
years. 

I'm not saying Zipper can't do what they've failed to do...I'm just
dubious. And because every few months, a new bunch of people make
claims that they're going to "do" digital cash; usually they don't get
much further than naming their product, often something cutesy like
the execrable "e$" that someone picked recently. (I'm not a fan of
"e$" for lots of reasons.)

Folks, you can no more just start "moshing around" on digital money
than you can pick up a saw and start doing brain surgery.


--Tim May


-- 
..........................................................................
Timothy C. May         | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,  
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W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA  | black markets, collapse of governments.
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"National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."