Hi, my name's Patrick, I'm responsible for the Lucrative project. The original question here, the one in the title, and perhaps the most interesting one, is "Why _anonymous_ digital bearer instruments?"
This is a good question. Let's put aside the related question "Why digital bearer instruments?" for now and answer the anonymity question. First, there is the basic idea of anonymity. Many people don't seem to care about anonymity, but I view it as a basic 'right', and an important one. Anonymous cash transactions have a tremendously long history, but I won't attempt to summarize it here. Second, and this is the more interesting from my perspective, is that anonymous digital transactions are truly non-repudiable, unlike book-entry systems. Transactions that can't be repudiated have obvious value, but I'll leave it to others to enumerate the many ways. Why is an anonymous digital bearer instrument non-repudiable and arguably anything else isn't? It's a matter of policy versus reality. Compare it to an in-person transaction at a store. I walk up to the counter, present funds, and request cigarettes (or whatever). The cashier examines the funds, and if acceptable, receives them and presents the cigarettes. I leave the store. I have the cigarettes; the store can't 'deactivate' them or take them away except by brute force. The store has my funds; I can't 'deactivate' them or take them away, except by brute force. Neither can a third party do either except by force. Anonymous digital bearer instruments are essentially cash for this purpose. They clear immediately, and the sender cannot repudiate the transaction later because the funds are no longer under his control. In fact, the specific funds are not under the issuer's control either. The issuer cannot single out the DBIs held by the recipient and revoke them because it cannot identify them. Scenario: Alice wishes to purchase a 3D graphics model from Bob. She reviews thumbnails on Bob's web site, picks one, and puts it in her shopping cart. She 'checks out' by pasting in an ASCII-armored digital bearer instrument. Bob's SCI then automatically redeems the DBI for a fresh, new one at the issuer. At this point the payment has cleared: Bob has the funds and Alice does not, even if Alice retained a copy of the original instrument. Bob's website then delivers the 3D model files to Alice. Later, Alice decides that she wants to stiff Bob. But what are her options? She cannot repudiate the payment herself, and she cannot ask the issuer to do so either. The issuer is unable to distinguish Bob's instrument from any other in that series (which may be quite large). To disavow that instrument it would have to disavow the entire series, and probably lose most if not all of its customers overnight. This is the difference between non-repudiation in theory and in practise. One more example. On February 1st, 2003, Crowne Gold updated its computer systems. After a short period, it became clear that something terrible had happened to at least some of the payments made in that system in the hours before the switch between the old and the new software. That is, some transactions entirely disappeared as if they had never happened. This happened to a company I work with to the tune of five grams of gold. Someone had sent 5g to them and they accepted it as a non-repudiatable transaction. After all, Crowne Gold said so. It was their policy. Lo and behold, after the upgrade, they did not have the funds anymore or any record of the funds in their Crowne Gold account. Crowne Gold support, responding to an inquiry after four days, said basically this: "your problem". That's right, this company acting in good faith was supposed to politely ask the person who sent that gold to do so again. At, of course, their option. An anonymous digital bearer instrument system would have prevented such a problem from affecting them as an instrument holder. Such problems become, as they should, the issuer's, and the liability is theirs. Sincerely, Patrick --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keyboard (SRK) when accessing your e-gold account(s) via the web and shopping cart interfaces to help thwart keystroke loggers and common viruses.
