<nettime> how to commercialize the net

[t byfield <tbyfield@panix.com>]

    [IETF = Internet Engineering Task Force (anyone can 'join')
     BOF  = Birds Of (a) Feather (voluntary group devoted to specific issue)
     W3C  = World Wide Web Consortium, an intrnational industry consortium,
            accepts only organizational--not individual--membership
     IBUC = Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation]

----- Forwarded 

Date: Tue, 9 Nov 1999 11:57:03 -0500
To: micropayments@elab.co.uk, micropay@ai.mit.edu,
	Digital Bearer Settlement List <dbs@philodox.com>,
	e-gold-list@free-market.net, dcsb@ai.mit.edu, cryptography@c2.net,
	paypacket@harvee.billerica.ma.us
From: Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>
Subject: Here's "Wot's the scuttlebut"
Cc: Fearghas McKay <fm@St-Kilda.org>

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At 8:58 AM -0400 on 11/9/99, Ian Grigg wrote, on the egold list, re
yesterday's IETF micropay BOF:


> Wot's the scuttlebut?

IBM and ATT both have counter-cash book-entry credit-card/telephone
billing accumulators, which, apparently, look a lot alike structurally,
and are both patented and/or PAF. That should be fun.

Compaq (nee DEC) has merchant-issued (to absolutely, positively, prevent
double-spending) bearer scrip, capable of, um, millicents. Also patented.

The W3C is building (or has built, depending on who you listen to)
pay-per-click XML. Probably not patented.

IBUC <large intake of breath> will pay -- or hopes to pay -- some clueful
IETFer to build a public-domain (spec and reference code), millidollar
and smaller, fully-fungible, unsigned, internet bearer transaction system
using a generally accepted, and preferrably unencumbered, bearer
financial cryptography protocol. Little money first, bigger money soon,
biggest money later.


All of the above folks would dearly love an IETF-approved(whatever)
internet-level spec: Something which moves payments, preferrably micro
ones, from Alice to Bob on the net regardless of the payment protocol, as
long as it doesn't descriminate according to a whole set of variables we
all don't have definitions for yet, including what, exactly, a
micropayment is.

The room was too small and too full, which was, at least, gratifying.
Everyone who was there *really* wants to do micropayments on the net if
they can figure out how to do it for, um, money. We've all been *really*
trying to figure out how, and for at least 5 years, as far as anyone can
tell. Even after all that some of us still think we can, for some reason.
:-).


So, to be perfectly frank, it appears a bunch of historically-non-IETFers
(every single person speaking, me included, except for J[...] I[...] :-)
of ATT, who quite fortunately got shoehorned into the agenda at the last
minute, had never been to IETF before; including, apparently, the BOF's
substitute chairman, flown in from Isreal by IBM for the occasion at the
late minute), called a meeting to get the IETF to Do Something, which is
not generally a good way to get IETF folks to do anything.


Lots of people observed lots of things, but the observation I remember
most came from Jon Callas: Maybe IETF folk will be motivated to write a
standard, but first there has to be enough running code for there to be a
rough consensus. Or something.


My personal opinion is, cool, let's go buy/build some running code and
make it all go, because we're burning daylight, and we have nothing to
lose but our transfer-priced information goods and services.


Finally, and maybe most important, Fearghas McKay has set up a list for
- -->IETF<-- folks to talk about getting an -->IETF<-- micropay
working-group[s] together (or not), and then getting [a] spec[s], etc.,
together, (or not), called, appropriately enough,
<micropayments@elab.co.uk>. It can be subscribed to (I hope I got this
right) here: <mailto: micropayments-on@elab.co.uk>.

See you all there.

Cheers,
RAH

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-----------------
Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"Camels, fleas, and princes exist everywhere."  -- Persian proverb

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