From: sameer <sameer@c2.org>
Date: Fri, 17 Nov 1995 18:46:16 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: COMMUNITY CONNEXION BECOMES FIRST INTERNET PROVIDER TO ACCEPT ECASH
Message-ID: <199511170805.AAA10143@infinity.c2.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


For Immediate Release - November 17, 1995
Contact: Sameer Parekh sameer@c2.org 510-601-9777

COMMUNITY CONNEXION BECOMES FIRST INTERNET PROVIDER TO ACCEPT ECASH

Community ConneXion today announced that it has become the first and
only Internet Service Provider in the world to allow for payment using
ecash, a digital cash system developed by DigiCash bv, of Amsterdam,
Holland, released jointly with Mark Twain Bank, of St. Louis,
Missouri.

On October 23rd, DigiCash bv announced jointly with Mark Twain Bank
that they would be issuing ecash denominated in real U.S. Dollars. In
the past DigiCash had been running a trial "CyberBucks" payment
system, which was not backed by any strong currency; it was a form of
"Monopoly Money". 

The ecash system provides full payor anonymity. Consumers can use
ecash tokens to pay for goods on the Internet, with full anonymity
from the merchants. This lets consumers buy things without fear of
merchants compiling and selling databases of their spending habits. It
also allows for a convenient and safe mechanism for payment through
the Internet.

Sameer Parekh, President of Community ConneXion, said that ecash is a
significant improvement over the payment systems widely in use on the
net today. He described one example, "Currently people usually just
send their credit card numbers over the net to the merchant if they
want to buy something. This opens up the security risk of having the
merchant's computers broken into; every consumer's full credit limits
are then subject to attack. With ecash, only the limited sums that
have been spent are at risk."

Community ConneXion has begun accepting ecash as payment for its
services, offering a five percent discount for customers who pay with
ecash. "It simplifies our accounting and protects the privacy of our
clients; it is to everyone's benefit to use ecash," said Parekh.
"Ecash has greatly simplified account creation procedures for our
anonymous accounts. In the past someone creating an anonymous account
would need to wait until their payment arrived, and their check
cleared, before the account could be created; now, the account is
created automatically, immediately after the ecash payment is made
over the world-wide-web."

Community ConneXion is the leading provider of privacy on the
Internet. They provide anonymous and pseudonymous internet access and
web pages in addition to powerful web service, virtual hosts, and web
design consultation. Information is available from their web pages at
http://www.c2.org/. Information about the Mark Twain Bank ecash
release is available from http://www.marktwain.com/ecash.html.

DigiCash, CyberBucks, and ecash are trademarks of DigiCash bv. Mark
Twain Bank is a trademark of Mark Twain Bancshares. Monopoly is a
trademark of Parker Brothers, Division of Tonka Corporation.