From: p.v.mcmahon.rea0803@oasis.icl.co.uk
Date: Sun, 28 Aug 94 13:49:02 PDT
To: rah@shipwright.com
Subject: RE: Golbal Econ.
Message-ID: <9408282050.AA17744@getafix.oasis.icl.co.uk>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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> >An "internet economy" needs a basis of trust, as well as security
> >mechanisms appropriate for the current level of IP security. What basis
> >of trust do you envisage?

> Secure transactions are here already. 

... for parties with established commercial relationships.
 
> Most of this can be done in civil law. It's done all the time in the
> securities markets. If you have certificate which is collateralized, by an

But the contractual agreements upon which these transactions are based
don't scale too well to the [small] vendor / casual purchaser sector,
which I guess the term "internet economy" is intended to encompass.

The most likely basis of trust for this sector is not going to be achieved
through each transient buyer-and-seller pair-instance entering into an
explicit contract to enable the seller to believe the buyer's electronic
[proxy-]promissory note - but by an extension of the current mechanism for 
telephone or mail-order payment, with the trusted third parties being
VISA, AMEX, etc.

While CommerceNet is the most prominent make-the-internet-safe-for-business
initiative, it still only expects to have 1 million customers within five
years - a goal that is modest enough given today's Internet user base,
and growth rates. Even so, industry analysts consider this goal ambitious.

Expectations for an internet economy based on techniques above and beyond
the ability to securely send one's credit/charge card details are unlikely 
to be fulfilled in the short/medium term.

- pvm