Hal Finney <hal@rain.org> writes: ...

In my travels around the web, I find that First Virtual is being relatively successful for small amounts like shareware fees. It is easy to get started with FV; you fill out their web page and make a call to their 800 number with your credit card info. You're ready to go in a few minutes. I'm sure there are a lot more people buying things with FV than with Digicash. ...

I just had an idea for an interesting demo project. Perhaps someone wants to take it up and to put a spin on it to promote privacy/cryptography. Most (perhaps all) states' motor vehicle departments allow you to connect to their computer (usually via a modem) and map licence plate numbers into names/addresses. Typically you must first set up an account and pay, e.g., $200, and then something like $4 is deducted from the account for each query. Obviously, only someone who performs a lot of queries (like a p.i. or a lawyer) would set up an account. It occurred to me that it might be "interesting" for someone to set up accounts with all the states that have this service; and to establish a Web site that would do quantity 1 queries for a reasonable fee, like $FV10. I recall that someone got hold of the Washington State database and operated such a service for free for a few days as a demo. --- Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps