[10792] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Billing on the net (was Re: Internet vs Minitel)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (John [Francis] Stracke)
Wed Mar 9 17:53:44 1994
Date: Wed, 9 Mar 1994 10:20:06 +0500
From: francis@avalle.insoft.com (John [Francis] Stracke)
To: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: Glenn S. Tenney's message of Tue, 8 Mar 1994 18:51:07 -0800 <199403090251.SAA14750@netcom9.netcom.com>
>>Though, once we get past the Clipper debacle, and get to some
>>standardized cryptography, digital signature and the ability to send
>>one's mastercard number encrypted should go a long way toward centralized
>>billing on the Internet.
> 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?
>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.
Why run it through the provider? All we need is a large merchant L to
set up a billing server. When a customer wants to charge something
with small merchant S, S gets his credit card info & passes it to L's
server, which submits the charge to its bank; if it's approved, L
gives S the OK; at the end of the month, S gets a check from L for its
charges, less L's fee.
Of course, L is now taking the same financial chances a bank would in
giving S a merchant's credit card account. I don't doubt it'll be
tried, but I expect the first L will get burned (either that, or it'll
succeed & the banks will decide giving S an account would've been a
good idea--but I doubt that; the banks presumably have reasons for
turning down customers & money).
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|John (Francis) Stracke | My opinions are my own.| "You gotta learn to |
|InSoft, Inc. |========================/ dance before you |
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