From: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)
Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 13:23:26 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: VISA Travel Money
Message-ID: <ae241838010210046c83@[205.199.118.202]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 11:17 PM 7/30/96, Sandy Sandfort wrote:

>On Tue, 30 Jul 1996, jim bell wrote:
>
>> Even if not, chances are good that "all" of the transactions
>> can be linked together, even if they can't be directly linked
>> to an identifiable person.   Doesn't sound too promising.
>
>It sounds VERY promising to me.  Though I'm sure Jim's conjecture
>about linking transactions is correct, I don't see how such an
>aonymous payment system could not be useful in preserving privacy.
>One could purchase several of these cards--preferably in the
>smallest denominations consistent with their mission.  Each card
>could be used so that its audit trail left whatever impression
>one wished to leave.

I'm also skeptical of these "VISA Travel Money" cards. That is, they don't
seem to be too useful for anything.

After all, cash works well. (It's rarely stolen, in my experience, or at
least this is not a major concern. Traveller's checks work well, and can be
"cashed" into the local currency. ATM machines fill the same function these
"VISA Travel Money" cards apparently do; at least when I was in Europe the
last time this is what I used, and my French francs were as untraceable as
could be.

As I see it, yet another marketing solution looking for a problem.

A real step would be a true privacy card, a card issued in a jurisdiction
unfriendly to U.S. investigators and offering various transaction-blinding
options. I have to wonder what pressures have been put on the major credit
card companies...

--Tim May

Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software!
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Licensed Ontologist         | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."