Hi Ian.
~ Stefans approach sounds amazingly like "Translucent Databases" (book of the same name by Peter Wayner published in 2003). And its ALL prior art :)
We are using this type of approach plus some obsolete DS1957B ibuttons (much more secure than a smartcard) to guard medical records in our offshore medical records management business. And it seems that for DB record access, Patient PIN fragility creates the first legitimate uses for key escrow I have even seen (patients on meds can be very forgetful)
~ happy new year
Posted by Anon at February 27, 2006 11:26 AM