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DIGICASH:Re: observer chips
> I have always been skeptical of this observer-chip approach, because it
> wasn't clear that it was feasible to make a tamper-resistant chip
> economically, and because the specialized hardware that would be
> required would prevent the system from being used on widely-available PCs.
Well, the government pretends they can do a tamper-proof chip,
complete with wiretap keys installed by the wizards behind the curtain,
for $36. That's $26 for the chip in qty 10,000, plus a subsidized $10 for
tapping service and key installation. I thought Mykotronx's press releases
had sounded more like they wanted $36 themselves, and I don't know the
price for VLSI Inc's tamper-proof technology, but it may not be far off.
As far as interfaces go, PCMCIA are nice, but there's not much data to
transfer in most digicash exchanges, so a dumb cheap serial interface
may be more realistic, since everything supports it.
Bill Stewart