From: Mats Bergstrom <asgaard@sos.sll.se>
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 95 05:08:10 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: 1)Age etc CA 2)Swedish Digicash
In-Reply-To: <aceb57071f0210045a46@[205.199.118.202]>
Message-ID: <Pine.HPP.3.91.951207130643.29281A-100000@cor.sos.sll.se>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


On Wed, 6 Dec 1995, Timothy C. May wrote:

> For example, Sameer's c2.org could issue accounts to people who can prove
> they are over 18 (notarized copies of birth certif., passport, etc.).
> Sameer's system would then have a credential saying "this account name is
> over 18."

Isn't it in the coming that a federal agency, such as the Post Office,
will become the primary issuer of age-including 'physical identity'
certificates, based on such notarized copies? And store signed public
keys for everybody? It certainly is here, and the Swedish Post Office
(=Posten, with PostNet) wants to do it all. Perhaps this is tolerable,
with the condition that only the 'identity' has access to the private
key. Posten has yet not come out in public with any details of their
proposed system, such as key-pair generation.

Also, I can read in today's paper (in an article flanked by a picture
of David Chaum, and mentioning Mark Twain - not by name but as
'an American bank') that EU has given one of three 'IT prizes'
to Digicash and that Posten has licensed Digicash and plans to
open a mint/bank (Posten already is closely connected to a bank)
dealing in Swedish crowns. (This is not news but things seem to
be moving right now.) Some (but slight) mention of laundering,
of course. It's supposed to come about in 'the beginning of next
year'. I wonder how exchanges crowns/dollars will be managed.
Perhaps one will have to do it oneself for some time. If Posten
doesn't want to deal with it - at least for a start - I'm sure
Mark Twain will echange crowns to dollars for a fee, if only
Posten's system will be compatible. Lots of questions still
in limbo, though.

Mats