I knew it! There *is* an echo in here... ;-). Cheers, Bob Hettinga --- begin forwarded text X-Sender: merchant@172.16.1.10 Mime-Version: 1.0 Date: Wed, 24 Apr 1996 14:16:17 -0500 To: ecash@digicash.com From: Ecash Merchants <merchants@marktwain.com> Subject: Statement on Merchants - Mark Twain Banks Sender: owner-ecash@digicash.com Precedence: bulk -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Ecash - Its Your Money! Mark Twain Bank both supports and promotes free speech. Our adoption of the Ecash secure payment system written by DigiCash is one of the most important statements we think we can make about our belief in privacy. We believe that all sites should have the ability to publish or promote as they choose, and to do business with whom they choose. Mark Twain is a public company regulated by multiple governmental entities. In the ordinary course of business, the company chooses with whom it does business every day. The company has no obligation to ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ conduct business with anyone it deems to be inappropriate. The ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ;-). company will decline to accept any web site that sells graphics or items that would, in the sole and conservative judgement of the Bank, be offensive to the primary constituents of the Bank and other online vendors. Defining what is acceptable is an ongoing process of the Bank's Oversight Review Committee. Anyone with questions about specific acceptability should contact the committee by email. At this time the regulatory framework for Ecash and other online payment mechanisms is not established. We expect that we will be required to present the case for this new payment mechanism before legislative and regulatory bodies. This means that the ultimate success of Ecash will depend, in part, on our ability to provide regulatory bodies with a rational argument why current restrictive regulations should be broadened. If opposing parties are able to divert the discussion away from these essential elements into an argument about controversial products that may be available, then the goal of universal acceptance may not be met. As banks from around the world adopt Ecash, customers will be able to use their Mark Twain issued Ecash to make purchases globally without restriction. Mark Twain believes that all Ecash issuing banks should be inter-operable, and that such purchase transactions are private matters of the individuals utilizing Ecash. One could certainly imagine that merchants not acceptable to Mark Twain could be acceptable elsewhere. Thank you for your patience, and your comments. Mark Twain Bank merchants@marktwain.com www.marktwain.com "Ecash" is a trademark of DigiCash bv "Mark Twain Banks" is a trademark of Mark Twain Bancshares, Inc. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMX59ttsWVQQCavb7AQGnwQP+PedLsJjUsdiZ+XW8qoyTmWjBtFGVBnqE sOkVm9ZFPK/Sgny13iYJdjyjpNe/XgFaQO8hSfV1aZyBln4U3pFhH9aIqJzAyFmU Fo9iyLXf3CowWRYieI0OXzG5xYk+nQPKLJLeCdwebxit1bS7m/5iYuASyF3DQs3x fs7X94LQHeg= =0vvc -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com) e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "If they could 'just pass a few more laws', we would all be criminals." --Vinnie Moscaritolo The e$ Home Page: http://thumper.vmeng.com/pub/rah/