[MLB-WIRELESS] FW: [eclectika] there goes the cash economy

[Toliman]

At 07:04 PM 11/07/2003, you wrote:
>I guess the initial motivation is security, but I'm
>sure surveillance and taxation departments will soon
>find additional uses (in the name of 'total information
>awareness'.)
>
>To start with, one's name will probably be recorded against the bank notes 
>when withdrawn from an ATM.  A few years later, the tax
>department will probably require all shops to keep track of, and
>report, the serial numbers of all notes they handle.
>
>Then there is also the possibility of using specialised
>receivers with high gain antennas and low noise amplifiers
>to track RFID chips from further away than the 'regulation'
>10cm or so.  Put an 'RF' curtain across the entrance to the
>airport, train station, stadium, street, etc. and you can have a
>pretty good idea of who is where and when.
>
>John

The great thing about global economics is that RFID tags in money will 
probably be the next step towards PKI in eCash & EFT in place of cash 
transactions, that "stumbling" block over current insecure monetary systems 
will grow larger as the economic systems consolidate, governments will just 
turn a blind eye to the failures of the system, etc. in short, it's likely 
to evolve into something worse, but it is coming.

It depends on how the bank's use it, there is already paranoia & conspiracy 
about how US airport metal detectors can read the density / metal content 
of the anti-forgery strip in current US dollar bills in a wallet that 
passes through the detector's barrier, this removes the paranoia from the 
equation. each note then becomes a unique, radiating signature, that can be 
read by anyone. it's bad. it has repercussions such that a) it can be 
forged given enough time b) it can be tracked by governments and more 
importantly, "concerned citizens" with guns. I would be worried about a 
mugger that can see just how much cash you have on you when he pulls you 
off the street.

depending on the technology, one could scan a street walkway and grift 
RFID's of passers by, a source of anonymous false cash if you have the 
resources to forge RFID's on a small scale.

then comes the next stage to "defeat" the obvious problems ... public and 
private key encryption. PKI. if the next-gen RFID chips can work on UWB and 
microwattage, you could have PKI in your cash, the ATM sends an encoded 
signal to your cash card, it responds back in the given time with a hashed 
value (e.g. Kerberos), and the card is authenticated.

The ATM could also choose to send a signal strong enough to wipe the card's 
value if enough attempts were made, and reprogram with the current account 
details, a forced-recycling of authentication and signing keys for security 
measure.

this is the future of cash, a sort of combination security keycard and EFT, 
that authenticates on three sides, the bank who distributes and signs 
keycards, accounts, cash and actually holds the money, signs the actual 
money value as belonging to that bank, you sign your account (wallet), the 
business / vendor signs their account , and you swap numbers and radio 
pulses, the bank then arbiters and declares the transaction void or 
acceptable. what the next-gen eCash does, is avoid the middleman (the bank) 
in the transaction process.

this works well for things like travel cards / security cards that work by 
magnetic induction, moving over a gate or keycard device that has a coil of 
different metals, etc. they all have their quirks to stay unique and secure.

With microwattage devices, the pulse sent by the EFT / ATM device wakes it 
up, sends a response back, and creates some audible / visible feedback to 
let you know you've been requested for funds. possible ideas then come up, 
bioelectric or bio-sensory authentication (touching the card/wallet with a 
finger or thumb) to power the card to continue the transaction, etc.

and all of this amazing technology ...  will guarantee that in a few years, 
a bank, who is sure that you spent the weekend in morocco on cheap booze, 
hookers and fixing a used car, at the same time you were sleeping, will 
close your account because the $2,000 dollars you transacted from the ATM 
were being spent 11,000km away.

Toliman.


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