the limits of crypto and authentication

[Perry E. Metzger]

Ben Laurie <ben at algroup.co.uk> writes:
> Perry E. Metzger wrote:
>> Anonymity is a concern to me, too, but I suspect that it is hard to
>> get anonymity in a credit card transaction using current means, even
>> if the merchant isn't online. Pseudonymity, perhaps.
>
> Can we not aim higher than merely doing as badly as current systems do?

I think that by eliminating the need for a merchant to learn
information about your identity I have aimed higher. Given that we're
talking about credit instruments, however, it may be difficult to
eliminate the need for the issuer to track transactions. However,
given the way I've described the protocol, it would be possible to use
a variant on it for digital cash purses without the merchant being
impacted. It isn't clear to me, though, who would issue such things in
the current environment.

Perry

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