This document hasn't been updated in a couple of years now, and I think it's slowly getting out of date. I don't think any of it is actually wrong even now (mid-1999), but it is not up-to-date and may thus be somewhat misleading. Do your own checking!
This document is intended to provide some information about electronic cash (in particular DigiCash), compared with traditional cash and with credit cards. For an overview of other schemes and general information, see eg. Yahoo - ...:Digital Money or Dr Phillip M. Hallam-Baker's Electronic Payment Schemes page
| Cash | Chaumian e-cash | Credit cards | |
|---|---|---|---|
| dollars, pounds, yen... | Mark Twain bank | Visa, American express... | |
| What if I lose it? | Whoever finds it keeps it. If it gets destroyed (wallet catches fire), it's gone. | Unlike real cash, you can make a backup copy of it which you keep in a safe place (eg on a floppy in the safe). If you lose it, you simply restore it from the floppy and deposit it into the bank (only unspent coins will count). | You notify the bank and it lists the card as stolen. |
| What if someone steals it? | It's theirs. | If you have a copy of the cash, it's a race: whoever gets to the bank first gets the cash. | You notify the bank and it lists the card as stolen. |
| What is the limit of my loss? | The amount lost or stolen. | The amount lost or stolen. | Usually about $50. |
| Can I cancel a transaction? | No. | Usually no. If the recipient hasn't deposited it yet (eg it's in an email that hasn't arrived yet), you can deposit it to your account (thus making all other copies worthless). | If you buy something on your card
and it turns out to be not what you ordered or the company goes bust before you
get the goods, the bank will often help. (pointed out by David J. Bradshaw) Under other circumstances ??? |
| Can I find out who got the money? | As a rule, no. In exceptional circumstances it's possible to trace cash. | Tracing
e-cash is much easier because it's all done by computer: you let the bank
know what coins you want traced and it can do it for you. (??? conditions,
howto ???) If you encrypted the money before sending it, only the owner of the key could have decrypted it. (pointed out by David J. Bradshaw) | Usually it's on your statement. If it's not, the bank will tell you. |
| Can the other person find out who I am? | No (but they can describe you). | No (but normally both e-mail and WWW tell the other party who you are; you can avoid this using a remailer (??? remailers reference better than this one anyone ???)). | Yes, your name is on your card. |
| Can anyone else find out about the transaction? | No (unless they watch you). | No (unless they watch your e-mail/WWW, but even then it's possible to arrange for privacy; for example, using PGP - see Francis Litterio's page or the Yahoo PGP page (??? better reference anyone ??? - www.pgp.net needs a what is pgp page)). | Your bank, ??? anyone else ??? |
| Can it be used for extortion / tax evasion / bribes? | Yes. | No, at least not DigiCash. As has been pointed out elsewhere (tcmay I think), an extortionist is likely to specify payment in an untraceable currency. | No. |
| Can I sell for it? | Yes. | Yes. | No, not unless you are a "merchant". |
| Can I give it to a friend as a gift? | Yes. | Yes. (??? howto ???) | No, not unless your friend is a "merchant". |
| Special features: |
|
|
|
If you have any suggestions, please e-mail me at jirib@csse.monash.edu.au. You can use one of my PGP keys if you like (or even both!).