Re: "Only on the Cypherpunks list..."

[Nathaniel Borenstein <nsb@nsb.fv.com>]

Excerpts from mail: 25-Jul-95 "Only on the Cypherpunks li.. Timothy C.
May@sensemedi (1596*)

> I have no idea what First Virtual's current or future business plans are,
> but I do expect more solid encryption, a la PGP or "real" RSA (licensed),
> will be coming soon. I assume FV is planning for this likely development.

Well, one thing we've announced in public is that if/when Visa and
MasterCard actually announce the encryption standard that they have said
they're going to define, we will support it.  Basically, our attitude
towards encryption has been that the lack of widely-agreed-upon
standards and lack of widespread deployment were show-stoppers for
large-scale commerce.  Our hope is that if Visa & MC agree on a format,
it won't have those problems.  We didn't think that FV itself had enough
clout to set an encryption standard for the world, nor did we see enough
of a bandwagon behind the current PGP format (or any others).  So we
concentrated on making commerce work without encryption, building up our
customer base, our customer service department, and so forth.  We're
promising our sellers as smooth a transition to the eventual standards
as we can possibly manage...  -- Nathaniel
--------
Nathaniel S. Borenstein <nsb@fv.com>    |           When privacy is outlawed,
Chief Scientist, First Virtual Holdings |     only outlaws will have privacy!
FAQ & PGP key: nsb+faq@nsb.fv.com       | SUPPORT THE ZIMMERMAN DEFENSE FUND!

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