Cutlass Developers' Journal

Today is the day that the patent for blind-signatures, by David Chaum expires. I recently reread Crypto Anarchy, Cyberstates, and Pirate Utopias, and I’m struck at how far off the dreams of cyberspace as a free haven for transactions are from the reality of today.

We’ve done pretty well at providing an environment where free speech can flourish, not so well at providing an environment where private speech can flourish (although we’re still working on that), but we’ve been completely incompetent at providing an environment where private economic transactions can flourish. And it’s not a technical problem, it’s a legal problem.

Take the classic idealized ecash. Outsiders can’t determine who paid who, and potentially, recipients can’t identify the individual that paid them. You’ve just described a money-laundering machine. And the government currently forbids people to even hook up to a money laundering machine, even if the transactions that take place are as innocent as the purest snow. We won’t have real ecash (anonymous ecash, that protects privacy at least as well as paper cash) until the laws change.

You’ll forgive me if I don’t hold my breath on that one.

(Cross posted to Perpetual Rambling)