At 05:04 PM 11/20/2001 -0700, Anonymous wrote: >Some thoughts on digital cash. > >First, using anonymous cash to purchase physical goods online means giving >up much of the benefit from the anonymity. If you have to give a delivery >address, they obviously know who you are. It's still slightly better >than using your Visa card because only the seller learns your address >rather than a centralized agency that knows all of your purchases. >But it's hardly worth it.
Coin (or better yet eGold) operated rental, non-USPS, parcel delivery locker business. >Second, using digital cash for purchases in the real world (grocery stores >etc) is pretty much impossible today and relatively pointless anyway since >physical cash exists. There might be some slight advantages in terms of >not having to carry cash, resistance to theft, etc., but from the privacy >perspective, things are about as good as they are going to get in the >physical world. It's only going to go downhill from here. It may not >be as bad as Scott "Get Over It" McNealy claims but realistically the use >of surveillance cameras and face recognition systems is going to increase. ATMs dispensing currency for ecash >Fourth, the significant exception is of course pornography, and >we've had debates about whether it would make sense to create a >privacy-protecting electronic payment system that catered to the porn >market. It's profitable, it's information, and there are significant >privacy considerations for some customers. > >Unfortunately the greatest sensitivity to privacy comes with illegal >products like child pornography. And the Reedy case has to be a >significant cautionary tale. Thomas Reedy was proprietor of an age >verification service which had a couple of overseas child pornographers >among its customers; he ended up with life imprisonment for what was >essentially a payment collection service. Any digital cash system >for the porn market would therefore have to screen its clients (the >sellers) very closely. It's the buyers to whom you are selling privacy, >not the sellers, so this is not inconsistent with the business model. >But it could be expensive. And by eliminating illegal porn you would >be turning away much of your potential business, leading to a constant >temptation to cross the line as Reedy did. Offshore operation from less prudish countries. >Can we identify other markets, other applications where cash or cash-like >technology can be useful? MojoNation is a good example. Their mojo is >intended to be a cash substitute to optimize load balancing and data >distribution. Unfortunately the MN network lacks compelling content >and the economy is still crude. use Automated publication from file names and meta-data. Removal of limitations of file size enabling publication of high quality video content. >Imagine if all these systems could be served by a single virtual currency, >where resources and work donated in one forum earned points which would >entitle you to privileges in another. Eric Hughes proposed something >similar back in the days of the text-based MUD and MOO online games, so >that you could transfer quota from one system to another. Or consider the >example recently where several people expressed interest in having someone >go back to the early cypherpunk archives and select interesting threads. >What if each of us had some virtual cash we could transfer to whomever >did the work. eGold is already available. >The point is that there is a possibility today for an online market in >informal, peer to peer style information services. There is work to be >done, services to provide which remain entirely in the virtual world. >If you could be rewarded for work you do online with "cash" that would >allow you to request similar services from others, the monetary system >can get off the ground. This might be a more promising start for a >virtual currency than attempts to tie it immediately to dollars. eGold has shown a substantial and profitable, though still not mainstream market, exists for an unregulated electronic currency. A similar system tied to dollars, pounds or marks, is greatly desired. steve
