[Cryptography] Paper check security

[Jerry Leichter]

>> In theory, in the old days, the bank could check Alice's
>> signature on the check against the signature card on file.  In practice ... that was almost never done.
> 
> Depends what you mean by "old days".  Until the 1950s, checks were
> processed and posted by hand, and accounts were filed alphabetically
> by the account holder's name....
You're of course correct.  There are many "old days".

The standardization of checks that came with computerization and nationwide clearing has been around for long enough that people have forgotten just what a check, historically, *is*.  It's just an order to a bank.  In fact, if I remember correctly, legally the only required features were an amount, a signature, and words along the lines of "pay to <name|"the holder">.  Checks written on pieces of wood were held to be legal and binding.

By now we undoubtedly have other regulations to keep the system running smoothly at the immensely larger and more physically distributed scales that have been so common for decades that no one remembers when "cashing a check" meant getting it physically presented to the check writer's bank.

                                                        -- Jerry