From: sdw@meaddata.com (Stephen Williams)
Date: Wed, 15 Dec 93 06:55:55 PST
To: Jim_Miller@bilbo.suite.com
Subject: Re: anonymous video rental store
In-Reply-To: <9312150059.AA15316@bilbo.suite.com>
Message-ID: <9312151455.AA07413@jungle.meaddata.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


> 
> 
> 
> I couldn't sleep last night and, as is often the case, my brain gets a  
> mind of its own and starts thinking irrelevant thoughts.  The irrelevant  
...
> 1) The store could not track which customers rented which tapes.
> 
> 2) The store *could* tell which tapes get rented and which tapes do not  
> get rented.  The store would adjust it's selection of tapes based in this  
> information. (get more of the popular tapes, remove the unpopular ones)
> 
> 3) The store could some how penalize customers that returned tapes late,  
> or not at all.  The nature of the "penalty" is flexible.  This implies  
> that the store could somehow verify that the tape a customer returned is  
> the same tape the customer rented, but without discovering which tape it  
> is.  (I believe this is the hard part)
...
> Jim_Miller@suite.com

One easy way around this is to have completely anonymous customers:
The store doesn't record any id at all.  The simplest way to do this
is to have customers make a cash deposit large enough to cover
replacement costs of the videos.  You would have to limit the number
of videos, especially/only for those without a track record.

You could even leave an anon email id to allow them to remind you to
return an overdue video, etc.

The only risk here is that someone besides the account owner might
'close' the account and take the deposit.  A good 'id' card/number
should solve that.

Actually, around here, that isn't too far from what you end up with
after being a customer for a year: I've moved, changed phone numbers
and have a new VISA, since the old one expired.  I'm sure they still
have my dr. lic. num and maybe even my ssn though.

Not even knowing that you're a customer seems better than trying not
to track which videos you have.

How about an anon deposit service that multiple companies (utilities,
etc.) could put claims on, similar to VISA holds.

sdw
-- 
Stephen D. Williams  Local Internet Gateway Co.; SDW Systems 513 496-5223APager
LIG dev./sales       Internet: sdw@lig.net CIS 76244.210@compuserve.com
OO R&D Source Dist.  By Horse: 2464 Rosina Dr., Miamisburg, OH 45342-6430
GNU Support          ICBM: 39 34N 85 15W I love it when a plan comes together