From: minow@apple.com (Martin Minow)
Date: Wed, 3 Jul 1996 13:37:47 +0800
To: jim bell <cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: But what about the poor?
Message-ID: <v02140b02adff64f25a67@[17.202.12.102]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Jim Bell wants to get rich running a key escrow business (:-)
>
>Oh, but what a business opportunity!  I assume a floppy can hold 1000 keys.
>Even if I undercut the going rate of $200 per year by a factor of 10, that's
>a potential income of $20,000 per floppy per year.  A box of 20 floppies on
>the shelf, and I'm set for life!
>
Add in the cost of a bank vault and the ability to provide any key
to an approved law enforcement agency (i.e., one that provides you with
a legitimate search warrant for the key) with a 2 hour response time
(24/7/365). Also, you will have to take in keys as they are provided.

Hmm, the SecureCard (tm) I use to dial into my office system generates
one key per minute. Assume there are a million out there. Assume keys
are 64 bits (8 bytes) + 64 bits of card ID. 16 Mbytes/minute is,
according to the back of my envelope, just under 1/4 mbyte/sec, so each
of those floppy's will fill up pretty quickly, and you'll need a really,
really, big safe to put them in.

Of course, Jim probably knows this.

Martin.