From: Dan McGuirk <mcguirk@indirect.com>
Date: Sat, 3 Feb 1996 22:24:47 +0800
To: stewarts@ix.netcom.com (Bill Stewart)
Subject: Re: Crypto suggestion - re: Fatal Flaws in Credit Cards
In-Reply-To: <199602030951.BAA12301@ix2.ix.netcom.com>
Message-ID: <199602031408.HAA04273@bud.indirect.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text


> Nathaniel's written about the "fatal flaw" in any system that
> involves typing credit card numbers into your computer being that
> they're easy for a keyboard-sniffer or similar cracker to recognize.
> An obvious work-around for this (and for many of the problems with
> Social Security / Taxpayer ID numbers) is to use some sort of smartcard
> that generates one-shot numbers that the credit card company (or tax thugs)
> can map back to the "real" owner's ID.
> 
>[...]
>
> Any other suggestions?

Isn't this what zero-knowledge proofs are for?  Prove you know the
credit card number without ever having to transmit it.