Major financial players include:
1. Bank of America
2. Bank of Boston
3. Bank One
4. Bank of Montreal
5. Chemical Bank
6. CitiBank
7. Wells Fargo Bank
Other major players are:
1. BBN Inc.
2. Equifax
3. IBM Corp.
4. Information Resources Engineering Inc.
5. National Semiconductor
6. Sun Microsystems
7. Telequip
The *primary* interest of the financial players is obvious. I have not yet researched all of the other major players. However, I am at a loss to see what Equifax could contribute to such a consortium, but it is easy to see what they could gain by access to the data flow ... and I expect that are trying to set themselves up as a "key holder". I, for one, am significantly uncomfortable with that scenario on multiple levels.
Given the package as a whole, and given that the best solution for the code
would be PGP (currently available), and given that some (maybe all) of the
players have a vested interest in a hardware intensive application of the
stated goal, I suspect that we are seeing a rebirth of the "Clipper Chip"
via the financial community. [Didn't someone recently post a comment
forecasting such a possibility.] If not the clipper chip, this is at the
*very least* a proprietary code totally controlled by (not the user) and of
unknown (but suspected relatively weak) strength.
I am doubly perplexed because if *any single bank* wanted to accept
electronic messages to transfer money they could so TOMORROW! All that
would be necessary would be for me to trot down to my local branch, deposit
a copy of my public PGP key, sign a regular form for "machine generated
signatures (facsimiles)", and them to accept/generate E-Mail through the
InterNet. That's IT. There would be no more problem for the bank than if
I used a "counter" check as opposed to my regular pre-printed checks. There
is a small fee for this, but so what. (If there are any bank people
reading this, please tell me where I am wrong.) I expect that the first
Financial Institution (not necessarily a bank) to announce that it will
work in this manner will get MANY new accounts ... but I digress.
The New York Times story also reported that this Electronic Check would
contain all the information currently on a paper check, including the bank
issuing the check, an account number, payment amount and the name of the
payee ... in addition to a "digital" signature a code designed to prove
that the payment was authorized by the account holder.
This is already being touted as the next best thing to sliced bread and
canned beer ... "Electronic Check is designed to be open, secure and
convenient ... It will bring to electronic commerce on the Internet a level
of security and confidence currently found only in traditional banking
products." quote attributed to Dan Schutzer in the New York Times.
I'm not sure about you, but I believe that there are many causes for
concern. Not the least of which is having an "open check" which contains
my account number (and presumably other information) floating around
cyberspace for anyone to see ... this is without the risk of someone
"hacking" my signature... and, there are *many* others. The potential
loss of privacy concerning my transactions is important by itself.
The intent of this message is to stimulate conversation ... all comments
are welcome and E-Mail is always accepted. My PGP public (anon) key is
below: