Hi Matthew, You might want to have a chat to Scott Shaffer who writes a blog called The Pondering Primate. http://theponderingprimate.blogspot.com/
He goes nuts for that kind of stuff. Regards, Dean Collins Cognation Pty Ltd [EMAIL PROTECTED] +1-212-203-4357 Ph > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:community- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Matthew S. Hamrick > Sent: Wednesday, 14 March 2007 4:13 PM > To: Ole Tange > Cc: OpenMoko community > Subject: Re: Idea: up-to-date business card > > Yeah... this is called "Meishi." I developed it while I was in Japan. > > The idea was that you put a unique bar code on the bottom of your > business card. The code is essentially a serial number and URL to > your online Meishi server MACed with a secret key you maintain. You > give your business card to someone who snaps a picture of it with > their phone. Software on the phone extracts the URL from the picture > and communicates with your Meishi server, registering itself with the > serial number provided. The business card recipient then completes > the transaction by giving their Meishi URL to your server. After the > protocol is completed, you both have each other's "Meishi URL" that > you both can use to receive phone and address updates. > > An extension to the service also allows the person you gave your card > to to put their public key fingerprint on their card and pass it back > to you. This public key could be used to verify pseudo-identities. > > Not all of the system would (or should) be required, you're likely to > deal with a lot of people who don't have "Meishi System" business cards. > > A couple points to remember: > a. you're using a secret key and a Message Authentication Code, so if > your secret key is revealed, you get no forward security and you have > to toss all yer business cards that use it. > b. your business cards turn into "one time use" tokens. If you give > your business card to person "A" (whom you like) but they share it > with person "B" (whom you can't stand), there's nothing that prevents > person "B" from registering with your server unless you add an > additional layer of authentication. > c. there's nothing that prevents people from copying your information > and giving it to someone else. The thing that is hard is for them to > give someone else the right to get updates. > > It is, of course, a bit more complex than this, and I never did > anything more than write a couple prototypes. > > At some point I would love to add support for ECC for some > transactions and IBE (Identity Based Encryption) so if you want to > work with me, i'll probably have some time in May to work on such a > system. > > I thought for a while that I would patent the concept and try to > license the concept of generating serialized business card stock to > people like Avery, but then I realized having to pay an additional > fee for business cards would seriously hamper adoption. So to the > degree that such a process is patentable, I would not seek to do so. > And to the degree that someone else would try to patent such a thing > after 2001 (when I was in Japan) it would probably serve as prior art. > > Also... Xerox PARC had this project that embedded digital information > into screen-printed pictures. I always wanted to embed my Meishi data > into such a thing. That way you could put a picture of yourself on > your business card and it would have your Meishi information hidden > in it. > > -Cheers > -Matt H. > > On Mar 14, 2007, at 12:19 PM, Ole Tange wrote: > > > If I receive a business card it sometimes happens I try to call a year > > later. At that point the person has a new phone number and I will have > > to look that up. I would much rather receive an intelligent business > > card that was always up to date. > > > > To secure anonymity we will need a protocol that will allow me to get > > the new information without everyone knowing I got that. It will be OK > > if the original person is informed. Maybe using some kind of web of > > trust? > > > > /Ole > > > > _______________________________________________ > > OpenMoko community mailing list > > community@lists.openmoko.org > > http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community > > > _______________________________________________ > OpenMoko community mailing list > community@lists.openmoko.org > http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community _______________________________________________ OpenMoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
