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From: Ben Laurie (benalgroup.co.uk)
Date: Mon Jul 02 2001 - 15:11:10 CDT

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    Philippe Coupe wrote:
    >
    > Here is some answer to Ben Laurie legitimate questions (sorry for the delay
    > but I was off last week) ...
    >
    > [...]They have chosen (by what process?) a thing called EPocketCash
    > (http://www.epocketcash.com/[1]) to do this[...]
    > JXTA neither SUN did not "chose" to implement EPocketCash. I, as CEO of
    > IPassport Corporation (who operates EPocketCash) proposed to the JXTA
    > governance to implement our payment system (inside JXTA). Again, we will
    > implement the JXTA merchant and client parts of our payment system. The
    > source code will be fully available and will follow open source licence
    > guidelines set by JXTA governance.
    > If you want to create another payment system project you are free to propose
    > and implement it yourself... Later, the market will decide (and not you, me
    > or JXTA community/governance) ...

    OK, this has been pointed out by a few other people. It should be _much_
    clearer on the website.

    > [...] it is tied to bank accounts [...] You like it or not but, worldwide,
    > banks manage the money. Without a bank accout there is no way to put money
    > to/from any payment system of anykind. A payment system is only a process to
    > debit/credit a bank account.

    Oh yeah? So what are these banknotes and coins in my pocket, then?

    > With EPocketCash, this account is not a regular
    > account or a checking account but an EPocketCash/Your_Bank (co-branded like
    > your VISA card) account opened at "this" branch of "this" bank (of course it
    > must be a bank who partner with us). Your checking/saving (or any existing)
    > account are not linked to your EPocketCash account...

    So can I open one without presenting ID? Can I transfer cash into one
    without ID?

    > [...]Oh, except a judge[...] Like it or not but we are a US corporation and
    > as such we have to follow the laws and regulations of the USA.

    And those do _not_ state that you are required to track money.

    > [...]Oh, and probably either side of the transaction (so they can take you
    > to court, see? Isn't that a marvellous benefit? [well, they told me it was,
    > and they should know, right?]) [...] No, the merchant never know the
    > identity/account number of the client. Test our technology yourself as a
    > client and as a merchant and check it yourself. Through JXTA, try to
    > understand the system and if needed, help us fix it...

    So how do I get to take legal action against the merchant as you
    described? How does a merchant take action against a fraudulent client?

    > Remember, here, we all work on the JXTA project and it's a community based
    > work...

    So publish your technical documentation, in its entirety.

    Cheers,

    Ben.

    >
    > -----Original Message-----
    > From: bentop.ben.algroup.co.uk [mailto:bentop.ben.algroup.co.uk]On
    > Behalf Of Ben Laurie
    > Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2001 7:43 PM
    > To: Coderpunks; Cryptography; UKCrypto
    > Cc: JXTA Security
    > Subject: [JXTA Security] Anonymity Snake Oil in JXTA
    >
    > JXTA (http://www.jxta.org/) claims to have a payment project which will
    > "implement anonymous and secure financial transactions". See:
    >
    > http://payment.jxta.org/servlets/ProjectHome
    >
    > They have chosen (by what process?) a thing called EPocketCash
    > (http://www.epocketcash.com/[1]) to do this. Here's the marketing
    > droidlish: "The goal is to implement the Epocketcash payment protocol
    > for financial transactions for JXTA. EPocketCash is the first payment
    > system designed exclusively for the Internet. It allows anybody to be a
    > merchant and/or a customer at the same time with the same account. This
    > anonymous payment system will work on any gizmos connected to the
    > internet. Currently we support the WEB, WAP and I-Mode phones."
    >
    > Sounds great, no? There's just one teeny problem. It isn't anonymous.
    > Not even a little bit. It is merely secret. That is, it is tied to bank
    > accounts, and they promise (no, really) that they won't tell anyone who
    > you are. Oh, except a judge. Oh, and probably either side of the
    > transaction (so they can take you to court, see? Isn't that a marvellous
    > benefit? [well, they told me it was, and they should know, right?]). Oh,
    > and anyone who breaks into their system.
    >
    > But it is anonymous really. They said so.
    >
    > Cheers,
    >
    > Ben.
    >
    > [1] I can't actually read this, it renders horribly on Netscape, but my
    > information comes from Philippe Coupe, President and CEO of IPassport
    > Corp (who own EPocketCash?).
    >
    > --
    > http://www.apache-ssl.org/ben.html
    >
    > In Boston 'til 1st July.

    --
    http://www.apache-ssl.org/ben.html
    

    "There is no limit to what a man can do or how far he can go if he doesn't mind who gets the credit." - Robert Woodruff