Excuse me while gush... As usual, Eric is right. [great discussion about how regulation only creates markets elsewhere...] Arguably (only arguably...) some economic regulation is good for us: like a *few* pharmaceutical and food regulations, maybe. Eric points out that internet commerce and e-money, e$ for short, reminds one of something that has been going on for a long time with another E$, this time Eurodollars. (Kind of like AOL, eh?) Eurodollars were invented to get around American tax and currency regulations, and those of other countries. You had all these American corporations funding themselves through subsidiaries in Carribbean countries like the Netherlands Antilles. (Any time you see "Companyname, N.V.", the "NV" is Dutch for "we funded this with offshore dollars" ;-). George Soros, who founded Quantum Fund, N.V., is evidently happy with the results of this knowlege. He recently made the fastest billion dollars in history pointing out the folly of the European currency exchange rate mechanism, much to the chagrin of the Bank of England and other central banks whose money he pocketed. I remember a Milton Friedman quote, something to the effect that regulations only benefit a market's producers, not its consumers. Current day Japan, states with barber and bartender "licences", and Smoot/Hawley America in the 1930's might be good examples of that. If there's a market for those goods/services elsewhere, people *will* buy there. With internet commerce and e$ ,"elsewhere" is everywhere... But we know that already, don't we? I can't wait until the rest of the information, or the software, or the intellectual services buying public figure that out. The only way to prevent that is to regulate economic commerce on the internet, which makes me shudder to think about. Although, if the paradigm holds, it won't make much difference. It'll be like stopping capitalism itself. Cheers, Bob Hettinga ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com) "There is no difference between someone Shipwright Development Corporation who eats too little and sees Heaven and 44 Farquhar Street someone who drinks too much and sees Boston, MA 02331 USA snakes." -- Bertrand Russell (617) 323-7923