From: Simon Spero <ses@tipper.oit.unc.edu>
To: Stephan Vladimir Bugaj <stephan@studioarchetype.com>
Message Hash: 6730cc0cb61e03f370cdceba8b75f0b8f30899735a8ddf4e00448682bcd10683
Message ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.960611181936.27362E-100000@tipper.oit.unc.edu>
Reply To: <v03006f04ade3579bc415@[204.162.75.169]>
UTC Datetime: 1996-06-12 09:32:58 UTC
Raw Date: Wed, 12 Jun 1996 17:32:58 +0800
From: Simon Spero <ses@tipper.oit.unc.edu>
Date: Wed, 12 Jun 1996 17:32:58 +0800
To: Stephan Vladimir Bugaj <stephan@studioarchetype.com>
Subject: Re: Micropayments are Crap
In-Reply-To: <v03006f04ade3579bc415@[204.162.75.169]>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.960611181936.27362E-100000@tipper.oit.unc.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
I've had this argument lots of times, and I tend to flip-flop between
several positions, but I think you're missing the big big win of
micropayments(*). Micropayments allow an individual to charge for
information which is of value to the reader, but the magnitude of which
is too small to handle by conventional means; for example, a single
article or comic strip in a newspaper is too cheap to perform a complete
SET/{VISA,MC,NOVUS) transaction for. The journalist cannot sell the work
direct- instead she must sell the work through a middleman who takes by
far the biggest cut.
Micropayments allow each author to be her own wire-service. _This_ will
be the triggering point for the new media. These services can be combined
into edited newspapers without the editors needing to set up complex
traditional arrangements (I'd pay for John Young's Daily News :)
Freedom of the Press belongs to those who own the vending machines
Simon
(*) For the purpose of this message, micropayments are defined to be low
value transactions below the minimum values acceptable for conventional
payment networks
---
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you're gonna be the one that saves me | - back in Chapel Hill May 16th.
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