From: “James M. Cobb” <jcobb@ahcbsd1.ovnet.com>
To: jim@bilbo.suite.com
Message Hash: 19d4a1cbfde4779bff0188f2e4202012c6f8fbd70cb9009ebded5f6834f4b0b6
Message ID: <Pine.BSD.3.91.960118155239.20365A-100000@ahcbsd1.ovnet.com>
Reply To: N/A
UTC Datetime: 1996-01-18 22:00:46 UTC
Raw Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 06:00:46 +0800
From: "James M. Cobb" <jcobb@ahcbsd1.ovnet.com>
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 06:00:46 +0800
To: jim@bilbo.suite.com
Subject: Re: Article on E-money
Message-ID: <Pine.BSD.3.91.960118155239.20365A-100000@ahcbsd1.ovnet.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
Jim,
Thank you for an exceptionally well thought out message.
I notice your point that
....governments will do their best to insure that anonymous
e-money systems fail in the marketplace. Perhaps by...subsi-
dizing identified e-money systems....
12 26 95 / 01 02 96 Computerworld 38 reports:
CyberCash...is a more comfortable partner to banks and
offers an easier system for regulators to audit than those
of some rivals, says John Pescatore, research director for
information security at International Data Group in Falls
Church, Va.
A Netherlands-based firm called DigiCash BV...offers a system
that ensures a buyer's anonymity....
"An approach like CyberCash would still keep financial insti-
tutions in the loop. That's much more palatable to governments
and banks and their lobbyists," he says.
Publicizing the palatable is one form of subsidizing.
Another is suggested:
CyberCash...earns transaction fees from banks.
Regulating those fees can be an exercise in ingenuity.
But there may be more...
In Implementing Internet Security, a 1995 book recommended
by Pournelle, Lisa Morgan writes at page 199:
Currently, DigiCash technology is being used in electronic
wallets and smart cards; but in the long-term, the technology
will be used for many more applications.
In the long-term? Lisa writes at page 195:
Internet commerce, when it becomes big business several
years from now....
By then "NSA's pet Fortezza card project" may be all the
rage. Stephen Pizzo, Web Review's senior reporter, says:
The agency is also heavily subsidizing through private com-
panies the development of a commercial version to be sold
worldwide.
Cordially,
Jim
NOTES:
The Computerworld newsstory is headlined "Virtual credit-card
swiper makes banks feel secure."
The book is by Frederic Cooper et al. Its publisher: New
Riders Publishing.
Pizzo's report can be accessed beginning at:
http://gnn.com/gnn/wr/96/01/12/features/nsa/index.html
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1996-01-18 (Fri, 19 Jan 1996 06:00:46 +0800) - Re: Article on E-money - “James M. Cobb” <jcobb@ahcbsd1.ovnet.com>