Manifest: Monday 9 October 2000
| Assignments Due | |
| 11 October | Problem Set 3 | 18 October | Midterm |
No readings.
Links:
- Digital Cash Protocols handout.
- For an excellent presentation of the digital cash protocols, see Bruce Schneier, Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in C, 2nd Edition.
- SGI's Lava Lamp Random number generator
- US Government Accounting Office Security features of new (1996) US currency - "If you doubt that a bill is genuine, ask the United States Secret Service, your bank, or your local police department."
- For more on tuition-reimbursement schemes, see Philip Greenspun's article.
- Why are random numbers important in cryptography?
- How can one generate good (truly) random numbers?
- How can one generate good pseudo-random numbers?
- What is cash?
- What properties should digital cash have?
- How can someone sign something without knowing what it is? (Blind signatures)
- How does the digital cash protocol work?
Cash is a problem. It's annoying to carry, it spreads germs, and people can steal it from you. Checks and credit cards have reduced the amount of physical cash flowing through society, but the complete elimination of cash is virtually impossible. It'll never happen; drug dealers and politicians would never stand for it. Checks and credit cards have an audit trail; you can't hide to whom you gave money.
Bruce Schneier, Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in C, 2nd Edition.
