Re: Article on E-money

["James M. Cobb" <jcobb@ahcbsd1.ovnet.com>]

  Jim, 
 
 
  Thank you for an exceptionally well thought out message. 
 
  I notice your point that 
 
    ....governments will do their best to insure that anonymous 
    e-money systems fail in the marketplace. Perhaps by...subsi- 
    dizing identified e-money systems.... 
 
 
  12 26 95 / 01 02 96 Computerworld 38 reports: 
 
    CyberCash...is a more comfortable partner to banks and 
    offers an easier system for regulators to audit than those 
    of some rivals, says John Pescatore, research director for 
    information security at International Data Group in Falls 
    Church, Va. 
 
    A Netherlands-based firm called DigiCash BV...offers a system 
    that ensures a buyer's anonymity.... 
 
    "An approach like CyberCash would still keep financial insti- 
    tutions in the loop.  That's much more palatable to governments 
    and banks and their lobbyists," he says. 
 
 
  Publicizing the palatable is one form of subsidizing. 
 
  Another is suggested: 
 
    CyberCash...earns transaction fees from banks. 
 
 
  Regulating those fees can be an exercise in ingenuity. 
 
 
  But there may be more... 
 
  In Implementing Internet Security, a 1995 book recommended 
  by Pournelle, Lisa Morgan writes at page 199: 
 
    Currently, DigiCash technology is being used in electronic 
    wallets and smart cards; but in the long-term, the technology 
    will be used for many more applications. 
 
 
  In the long-term?   Lisa writes at page 195: 
 
    Internet commerce, when it becomes big business several 
    years from now.... 
 
 
  By then "NSA's pet Fortezza card project" may be all the 
  rage.  Stephen Pizzo, Web Review's senior reporter, says: 
 
    The agency is also heavily subsidizing through private com- 
    panies the development of a commercial version to be sold 
    worldwide. 
 
 
  Cordially, 
 
  Jim 
 
 
 
  NOTES: 
 
  The Computerworld newsstory is headlined "Virtual credit-card 
  swiper makes banks feel secure."  
 
  The book is by Frederic Cooper et al.  Its publisher: New 
  Riders Publishing. 
 
  Pizzo's report can be accessed beginning at: 
  
      http://gnn.com/gnn/wr/96/01/12/features/nsa/index.html