From: nobody@REPLAY.COM (Anonymous)
Date: Wed, 7 Feb 1996 18:50:57 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: ATT Waives Fraud Fee
Message-ID: <199602070109.CAA14579@utopia.hacktic.nl>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



AT&T WorldNet Spurs Online Credit Use


Bridgewater, NJ, 6 February 1996 -- In a teleconference
today, officials of AT&T's WorldNet and Universal Card
services announced a program aimed at allowing users to
"feel safe" in making online transactions by waiving the
standard $50 deductible fee on the use of credit cards
for "fraudulent" purposes.

The new program, to begin within eight weeks, will apply
to all dial-up customers of both WorldNet and Universal
Card Services, as well as to corporate users of
WorldNet's LAN (local area network) Service who use their
Universal Cards upon registering for WorldNet, said Tom
Evslin, VP of AT&T Gateway Services, speaking during the
teleconference.

Some $200 billion in sales were conducted over AT&T's 800
numbers last year, in comparison to only $500 million in
sales over the Internet, Evslin pointed out.

"Secure credit card" technology is an important
ingredient in spurring more electronic commerce, the VP
acknowledged, noting that AT&T is one of the partners in
the new SET (Secure Electronic Transactions) alliance
unveiled by Mastercard and Visa last week.

But based on the results of studies conducted by AT&T
among consumers, it is just as important that consumers
"feel safe" in doing business online as that they "be
safe," Evslin told the reporters and analysts. 

"What's important to consumers is that AT&T put its money
where its mouth is, rather than ask consumers to take the
risk," the VP asserted. 

AT&T will launch the new "deductible fee waiver" in
conjunction with the availability of dial-up access to
WorldNet, a new Internet "content aggregation" service
now in beta, by the end of this quarter, according to
Evslin. AT&T rolled out the WorldNet LAN Connectivity
Service together with BBN Planet last fall.

AT&T plans to be "aggressive" in promoting WorldNet in
the US and overseas, though mechanisms that will include
cross-marketing programs with AT&T Universal Card Service
as well as with third-party partners such as Netscape,
Verity, McKinley, and as of last week, Broderbund, he
told the press.

AT&T Universal Card now has more US card holders than any
other credit card, according to Evslin. The AT&T also
told reporters that he expects other credit card
companies will follow AT&T's lead in suspending the $50
deductible charge in online transactions.

--