Re: TollRoad (CA 91) and anonymity (fwd)

[Asgaard <asgaard@sos.sll.se>]

<Questions to and answers from the CA91 administrators:>

> ................and have cash options for those customers who aren't
> comfy with recurring automatic transactions on their card or account.

This seems to be a new-speak definition of cash: that they send
you a bill instead of making an automatic withdrawal?

> We have an anonymous account option.

Great. I wonder how many of their customers take advantage of this
option, and how it works. The emitting chip is stated not to contain
any information other than 'ID so-and-so passes point X now'. Does one
have to keep track of one's credit status and go to an office and pay
with paper bills in advance? Not very convenient.

> Our records are much like those kept by the phone company -- they're sealed
> to the public and to official requests that aren't accompanied by a court
> order.

Ah, the records are GAKed. For convenience, the PD could as well
tap into the system in real-time. They have always thousands of
stolen vehicles to watch out for. 

> We don't ever purge our records.

What would be the reason for this? When a customer has paid his
bill, the detailed records have no consequences for their profit.
For long-term highway traffic analysis they could as well create
deidentified entries.

Stockholm is to get the first toll system ever in Sweden, in
a few years (for crossing into the inner city). From what has
come out so far, they are contemplating the use of Chaum's
anonymous toll system (alledgedly in place in Dutch cities).

How does this system work, cryptographically? (I haven't
found anything on Digicash's web site.)


Asgaard