thoughts on digital cash

[pmetzger@shearson.com (Perry E. Metzger)]

>From: Marc Horowitz <marc@mit.edu>

>** Anonymity in banking is a well-known concept.  If I transfer money
>from my numbered swiss bank account to your numbered swiss bank
>account, nobody knows anything, except who the bank is.

Such accounts do not exist in Switzerland -- there is no such thing as
a Swiss account for which the bank does not possess information on who
the account holder is. Such things may have existed at one point --
but emphatically do not exist today. There are a few such things in
existance in odd corners of the world -- but they aren't well
publicized.

>** Legality of starting our own anonymous electronic bank: what do the
>laws say, anyway?  As long as I pay taxes on any profit, I can form a
>sole proprietorship to freely buy and sell purple widgets with very
>little government interaction.  Would it still be legal if I got a
>whole lot of people to accept purple widgets instead of cash?  Would
>it be legal if we called it "digital purple widgets" instead of
>"digital cash"?

The law is a slippery thing -- however, anonymous bank accounts, no
matter what you call them, are almost certainly illegal in the United
States. Most computer people don't seem to understand that the law is
interpreted not by a computer but by humans -- and they won't care
what "hacks" you use. If it smells like a bank, they will
likely convict you if it comes to that point.

Perry