Re: An article for Wired magazine

["Perry E. Metzger" <perry@panix.com>]

hallam@w3.org writes:
> The problem with Chaum's work is that it is unbalanced. He considers
> only the privacy aspect. The prevention of extortion aspect he does
> not consider.  DigiCash have never addressed the baby-napping
> protocol problem as far as I am aware.

DigiCash as defined makes it trivial to trace cash you give to someone
provided there is collusion between the payer and the bank. Doesn't
that solve the baby-napping problem?

Incidently, so far as I know, there is no physical world way to solve
the babynapping problem. Hell, you can just demand a case with five
kilos of gold in it if $50,000 in cash doesn't suit your tastes. I
defy governments to eliminate gold as well as paper currency.

> Governments have certain rights in our society that individuals do
> not. This is justified by their being democratically accountable.

Lets not get into a polititical discussion, but many of us here would
deny the legitimacy of authoritarianism simply on the basis that a
majority of the tiny minority that votes decided to vote for it.

.pm