More news from FUTURE-C in Re:gards to The Bank of the Internet. I say again that I know not much about this biz or crit... I only post it here for your info: Forwarded message: *> Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1993 22:13:35 -0700 *> From: John Frost <frost@NETCOM.COM> *> Subject: Re: The Bank of the Internet!? *> *> The Capitalization of the Internet. And I thought it was gonna come from the *> outside. All this talk of AT&T or TCI buying parts of the net and eventually *> kicking those who won't pay exorbinate prices (that is the nightmare, right>) *> off the Internet (or the DataHighway, as it will then be called) is just dust *> in the wind compared to what this Eric guy is planning. *> *> Actually, his idea isn't that bad. It would certainly help those shareware *> developers to earn some dough and us Authors could get a few pennies for our *> words. It won't be too long before somebody thinks they have information that *> people would be willing to pay for. They'll set up an email list and you'll *> have to pay to be on it. Clarinews will make more money. The Electronic Zines *> can recover some costs, and even the OTIS gallery could collect some dues. *> Soon it will become obvious who has the capital to control the net's *> information (my bet is on Bill Gates), and a new hierarchy based on the old *> hierarchy of capitalism will soon run the Internet. (this is of course a bleak *> vision, but I haven't been given reason to think otherwise.) *> *> Chandler wrote this: *> + But the real boggler is that this fellow Eric is, with the backing of *> + the Electronic Frontier Foundation, going to start a Credit Union based on *> + up-to-date encryption schemes and using the Internet as the monetary *> + highway! It involves using something called digital money -- a system of *> + encrypted data that expires over time, but that a highly flexible ability *> + to purchase quantities or services. The data itself will be located *> + over several nodes, so that no one site has all the info about your *> + account, but that any "quorum number" of bank nodes can reconstruct the *> + whole picture of your assets. Anyone trying to crack the system would *> + have to crack, not just one or two nodes, but a quorum number. Such nodes *> + will be distributed internationally, though favoring nations with *> + encryption-favorable legislation. *> *> Sounds Technically sound, but as a political entity? I don't think it will *> hold water. Doesn't it have to pass the Federal Banking System board or *> something. THat should take nearly 5 years. Buy then don't you suspect the net *> will have morphed beyond the culture that would make this system needed? *> *> This feels like just another introduction of what was bad in the ER (everyday *> reality) that we might surpass in VR. *> *> + I'm oversimplifying all this. But the whole notion of a Bank of the *> + Internet, backed by the EFF and running encrypted international monetary *> + transactions seems... well, this is Future Culture: what do you think? *> *> It Stinks. Where do I sign up. *> *> -indigo *> ------------------------------