[118288] in Cypherpunks
Re: Why smartcards? (was IP: Smart Cards with Chips encouraged)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Rachel Willmer)
Fri Sep 24 06:16:44 1999
Message-ID: <37EAA94A.85F56F37@intertrader.com>
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 23:27:22 +0100
From: Rachel Willmer <rachel@intertrader.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: Arnold Reinhold <reinhold@world.std.com>
CC: Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>, cypherpunks@cyberpass.net,
cryptography@c2.net, Digital Bearer Settlement List <dbs@philodox.com>
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Reply-To: Rachel Willmer <rachel@intertrader.com>
Arnold Reinhold wrote:
> And what is the value proposition for the consumer? SSL works swell.
This is true iff :
(1) the consumer is an adult who has a credit card
(2) the consumer is content that the transaction is traceable through
their credit card statement
(3) the consumer is happy to pay the extra cost needed to cover the cost
of the credit card hierarchy (which may be hidden in the ticket price
but most certainly is there when the merchant calculates the selling
price as he considers the cost to him of the credit card charges,
potential chargebacks, insurance against chargebacks, etc)
(4) the consumer wants to spend money with a merchant who is able to get
a merchant account with a credit card processor (this is a real problem
over here in the UK)
or
(5) the consumer wants to exchange money with a merchant rather than a
friend
In short, for the commerce model we have today (essentially the old mail
order metaphor taken online), SSL and credit cards works just fine.
For tomorrow's other commerce models, you need (and will have) digital
cash smartcards, loyalty smartcards, identification smartcards (probably
all on the same card). SSL doesn't provide a solution for everything.
Rachel
PS I'm considering starting a new mailing list to look at smartcards on
the Internet - would anyone find this interesting/useful ? the list that
this email is getting forwarded to seems rather large...
