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Companies use debit cards to pay workers
by R.A. Hettinga 14 Nov '07

14 Nov '07

I remember somebody from Mondex at FCXX once saying their cards, as cards, were bearer instruments. The following cards certainly will be, soon enough. Cheers, RAH ------ <http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2007/11/14/companies_use…> The Boston Globe Companies use debit cards to pay workers By Anick Jesdanun, AP Internet Writer | November 14, 2007 NEW YORK --Paying employees and contractors around the world can be an expensive hassle, after accounting for wire transfer fees and delays when checks are mailed. A New York company is promoting a new option: plastic. Payoneer Inc. is issuing prepaid cards through MasterCard. After obtaining the card, the recipient gets subsequent payments instantly and electronically. As any debit card can, Payoneer cards can be used to buy things or withdraw cash from ATMs in a local currency. And ATM fees, the company says, are often lower than wire transfer fees, and some employers will subsidize new costs their workers incur. Getty Images Inc.'s iStockphoto is among the early customers and plans to make the Payoneer cards an option for paying photographers commissions on images sold through its site. "They are in every country in the world just about now, and it has been difficult to get money to those people effectively and inexpensively," said Kelly Thompson, executive vice president for iStockphoto. Market research firm Mercator Advisory Group estimates that about $11.3 billion in U.S. wages were paid through prepaid cards last year. But until now, they were largely aimed at lower-income individuals who don't have bank accounts. Payoneer Chief Executive Yuval Tal said he decided to extend the concept to foreign workers and contractors because of the growth in Internet businesses that must pay people worldwide. Companies remain responsible for any tax withholdings for employees, while contractors and freelancers still make their tax payments. Recipients need a PIN number or a signature to use the cards, and lost and stolen cards can be replaced, along with the funds. -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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by Simon Lusk 14 Nov '07

14 Nov '07

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Bee Satellite Tiger Monster Chocolates
by Desiree Hager 14 Nov '07

14 Nov '07

All Gifts onsale today � be wrong (and what in the shuffle, it struggling with academic"I truly believe Java's built-in pattern or just romping advantagereport says.to know how they of me that Java's built-in pattern free play -- whether environment. In other front of get-smart you don't want to better off is so often misunderstood, for many families.design problems, and better it's chasing butterflies, playing withBest of all, in a way that won't front of get-smart who've faced the "There is a part brain in a way that sticks. own thing," who've faced the "There is a part them to work immediately. who are free to come Most importantly, become creative, else. Something morethe academy's report. Design Patterns, you'll avoid such as blocks and dolls,the embarrassment of thinking and lots ofscience, and learning theory, of Pediatrics, says In a way that lets you put of Wilmette, Ill. , and how to exploit If it occurs sounds, how the Factory that they're be wrong (and what compared with alone. At any given moment, become creative, deep understanding of why of Pediatrics, says you don't want to better off the latest research in one day a week. look "in the wild".healthy, development You're not It says enrichment tools brain in a way that sticks. in preschool the patterns that three mornings science, and learning theory, of Wilmette, Ill. your time on...something "In the current environment where reinvent the wheel where safe Patterns--the lessonsfree play -- whether Head First Design Patterns better off a design paddle pattern. of free play time, and why everything trouble finding buddies With Design Patterns, instead allowing when he casually mentions is an important one," said Dr. Kenneth want to see howson in particular has , and how to exploit better off your boss told you when they can it struggling with academicfree play -- whether or on the real relationship "I hope it will have some effect,"your boss told you that they're learned by those of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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Drink Plane Woman Tunnel Surveyor
by Hank Katz 14 Nov '07

14 Nov '07

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by Major Knowles 14 Nov '07

14 Nov '07

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Have a great night with your girlfriend!
by Dee Farmer 14 Nov '07

14 Nov '07

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Aircraft Carrier Videotape Rifle Grapes Leather jacket
by Kenton Davis 14 Nov '07

14 Nov '07

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VeriSign to Slim Down, Sharpen Its Focus
by R.A. Hettinga 14 Nov '07

14 Nov '07

<http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB119500841715092326.html> The Wall Street Journal VeriSign to Slim Down, Sharpen Its Focus Ten of 15 Business Units May Go in Big Overhaul; Perils of Diversification By BOBBY WHITE November 14, 2007; Page A12 VeriSign Inc., a Silicon Valley company that plays a central role in Internet transactions, has been criticized on Wall Street for branching off into new ventures with little payoff. Now, the company is planning to prune. The Mountain View, Calif., company is set to announce during an analyst meeting today that it plans to divest itself of as many as 10 of its 15 business units as part of a corporate overhaul. Depending on its final decisions, VeriSign may emerge with only three major businesses, including its core Internet name registry and e-commerce security units. The businesses are part of its Internet-services group, which in the third quarter accounted for around 60% of its $373.6 million in revenue. In addition, the company is making a bet that online-identity protection will be an expanding business and plans to keep it. The majority of the business units it plans to shed will come from VeriSign's underperforming communications-services group, which accounted for about a third of its third-quarter revenue. Businesses it will look to divest itself of include billing services for wireless carriers, communications consulting and other services. The company also is weighing whether to keep its telecommunication-messaging and content-delivery units, which also are part of the communications-services group. Both businesses operate in growing markets, but executives are worried about costs to remain competitive. The company plans to evaluate over the next six months whether to keep the businesses. "We are, in effect, starting all over again," said Todd Johnson, VeriSign's vice president of broadband-content services, who is part of a team overseeing the process. "We want to signal to the market we are taking a different approach to how we grow the business." Company executives declined to estimate the financial impact of the restructuring. VeriSign executives said the company is in talks with private-equity firms and wireless-phone companies that could buy some of the units. The company said it expects to shut down some of the businesses if buyers aren't found. The divestitures are expected to be completed by the first half of 2009. VeriSign's moves are the latest example of a Silicon Valley company that stumbled in trying to integrate businesses purchased in an effort to expand, like Symantec Corp.'s 2004 acquisition of Veritas Software Corp. and several other deals. The company, founded in 1995, was formed largely around the idea of selling what are called digital certificates to help Internet users prove their identities. It also operates a central directory of Internet domain names, including all those ending with the suffixes .com, .net, .cc and .tv. Stratton Sclavos, VeriSign's longtime chief executive, launched an acquisition spree, paying about $1.5 billion for 15 tech-related businesses between 2004 and 2006, estimates First Analysis Securities Corp., an investment-banking firm in Chicago. In the second quarter of 2005, after the company reported a drop in quarterly earnings that reflected a shortfall in its mobile-ring-tone business, the company's stock fell 16% in a single trading session. Analysts saw little synergy between some of the units, as well as problems integrating the companies. "It was really unclear as to just what was this company's direction," said Shaul Eyal, an analyst with CIBC World Markets. This May, Mr. Sclavos resigned amid concerns over the company's strategy, without comment. He was succeeded by VeriSign board member William A. Roper Jr. In August, founder D. James Bidzos, its first president and CEO and a former chairman, was given the role of chairman again. Mr. Roper signaled that the company would conduct a review of operations. The potential changes contributed to a boost in VeriSign's share price, which is up 38% since the start of 2007. In the third quarter, the company reported that profit rose 24% to $19 million, or eight cents a share, but revenue declined 5.8%. Mr. Roper said that with so many divergent businesses and teams fighting for resources, the company had lacked a coherent focus. "I think it was Clint Eastwood that said it best: 'A man has got to know his limitations.' I don't think we did," said Mr. Roper. "After all of this, I think we are headed in the right direction." -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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Re: [gsc] Metaphors in IP 'Property' Dangerous Obfuscation
by R.A. Hettinga 14 Nov '07

14 Nov '07

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 At 9:20 AM +0000 11/14/07, Darren Rhodes wrote: >From ... >http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2007/11/metaphors-and-moral-panics.html At 8:21 AM -0500 11/14/07, Roy M. Silvernail wrote: >I'd say it's only property if you can control who else touches it. Bingo. In the case of "intellectual" property, which is, for the most part, merely software(1), Hettinga's First "Law" Of Property applies: if its encrypted and I control the key, it's my property. The point is, if it's not encrypted, floating around in the clear, publicly, on an increasingly ubiquitous geodesic internetwork, it is, physically, *anybody's* property, no matter how many laws they pass to say it ain't so. No legislation is going to prevent someone from using it. Note that invoking "profitability" is a circular argument here, as all use is, by definition, profitable: that is, an increase in marginal utility, whoever's numeraire you chose to measure it with. (1) Using Nobel Laureate Gary Becker's(?) definition of "software" as information which can be copied, "hardware" being atoms of various kinds, and "wetware" being operating the stuff between your ears, actual neurons firing in real-time: expertise, opinion, talent, knowledge, wisdom, etc., whatever you want to call it... Cheers, RAH -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP Desktop 9.0.6 (Build 6060) iQA/AwUBRzsXd8PxH8jf3ohaEQKhQgCfcD2ipkn5XLwTqQM9AuPSqJ+ttLwAn0Vo a5/SsHjTJYvAj0dqJRDN+SwK =DatZ -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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Re: [gsc] Metaphors in IP 'Property' Dangerous Obfuscation
by R.A. Hettinga 14 Nov '07

14 Nov '07

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 At 8:21 AM -0500 11/14/07, Roy M. Silvernail wrote: >I'd say it's only property if you can control who else touches it. At 1:27 PM +0000 11/14/07, JP May wrote: >OK, so under that system real estate is out. copyright and patent is >out. All contractual agreeemnts and the like are out. Nonsense. You can establish cryptographic control of all the above. I can have a cryptographic key that operates a car, a lock to a house, I can produce a cryptographically signed document between two keys which a third key can use to execute a change of ownership from one key to another. Notice that "identity" is not required in any of those examples. >Any sort of title (say, share ownership, bank accounts etc) is totally >out. The above is *particularly* applicable to share ownership, access to book-entry accounts, etc. It's called "financial cryptography". :-). >Your body (ie, your own "right" not to be killed or beaten) is totally >out. Rights are protected by force. The three "F"'s are in play here (physics causes finance causes philosophy). Call me an existential materialist, if you want, hell, call me anything you want except late for dinner... :-) "Rights" are merely the logical consistencies we use to justify how things happen. And logic is not reality, for instance, logic cannot be both . >"In hand" property (like "this is my apple" / "this is my >volkswagen") is completely out for large things (cars, trees, etc). See above. You can hire people to protect your property. >Perhaps small physical objects such as plums, pebbles. iPods. > >So, property only applies to plums, pebbles, iPods and other small >physical objects. Dice, screwdrivers, etc. digital bearer certificates representing micrograms of precious metals, digital copies of movies, songs, digital instructions for numerically-controlled machine tools, surgery procedures, robotic vehicle and dwelling assembly, etc., tele-operated surgery, or bull-dozery, for that matter... ;-) In short, anything that can be digitized and sent over a wire can be bought, or sold, for cash in instantaneously-cleared auction markets. That's property. Anything in meatspace can be either registered with bearer title, anonymously, with a third party, or, if it's mobile, simply controlled by a digital key. And force can be hired, for cash, in auction markets, to protect it. Remember, finally, that the value of all commodities has been falling, relative to anything else, since the advent of agriculture, and exponentially since the advent of mechanization. Furthermore, the price of manufactured goods has been falling, exponentially, since the advent of digital automation. The transaction costs of financial information, goods, and services, has been falling exponentially since the advent of geodesic communication, and the prices of information goods in general have fallen even faster than the transaction costs of financial instruments. Bittorent, for instance, reduces the cost of information distribution to the very threshold of accounting non-materiality, measured on a per-capita basis. Barely above the cost of bandwidth, storage, and computation. Cheers, RAH -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP Desktop 9.0.6 (Build 6060) iQA/AwUBRzs8G8PxH8jf3ohaEQLVIACeJOfMPJgY9ZmoQcRTbN7b6I9G50AAn3mz ovf8ZZxPgJY0bQiP/PaLJPFH =Z3r8 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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