[10785] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Billing on the net (was Re: Internet vs Minitel)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Miles R Fidelman)
Wed Mar 9 11:38:00 1994
Date: Wed, 9 Mar 1994 06:34:18 -0500 (EST)
From: Miles R Fidelman <fidelman@civicnet.org>
To: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: <199403090251.SAA14750@netcom9.netcom.com>
On Tue, 8 Mar 1994, Glenn S. Tenney wrote:
> Unfortunately, Miles, "you don't get it" :-) ... Being able to get a
> credit card number over the net does nothing for the small information
> provider. Have you ever tried to establish a merchant's credit card
> account with your bank? I suggest that you do so... My company has two
> corporate accounts at a large bank, have been with this large bank for
> about nine years, and was told "You can apply for a merchant account if you
> want to, but WITHOUT A STORE FRONT, WE DON'T SAY YES." Besides, getting a
Actually - yes, without a store front, and successfully, but that's
another story :)
>
> Cryptography is not the solution to billing on the net. It is *A* solution
> to a subset of the problem for medium to large providers, but it is nothing
> like the Minitel solution which does satisfy the needs of the small
> information provider.
Sure, good point.
>
> Now, if you had suggested that all telecom providers be required to handle
> the billing (the way the telcos do [or did] for 976 numbers), then you'd
> have a solution that would work and support small information providers.
>
Of course another would be if someone set up a third party
clearinghouse. I have one account with someone who resells other
people's information services or acts as a billing consolidator. Doesn't
have to be the telcos. Again, cryptography is an enabling requirement -
kerberos would work pretty well in such an environment.
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Miles R. Fidelman mfidelman@civicnet.org
Executive Director 91 Baldwin St. Charlestown MA 02129
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Information Infrastructure: Public Spaces for the 21st Century
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Then We Can Worry About: "Switched, Interactive, Broadband Services"
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