Pricing Mojo, Integrating PGP, TAZ, and D.C. Cypherpunks

[Declan McCullagh]

I don't mean to take issue with much of what Anonymous writes, but
some of the examples mentioned can be taken care of adequately by 
existing payment systems. 

Using Amazon's payment system (they have two types, voluntary and
pay-for-content), a webmaster can charge as low as $1, I believe, for
content, and Paypal is another option. 

Naturally, they don't do micropayments, and they don't offer the type
of anonymity that other systems do, but the early-cypherpunk-archive-
editing project, for instance, wouldn't require anon payments in
ha'pennies either.

-Declan


On Tue, Nov 20, 2001 at 05:04:03PM -0700, Anonymous wrote:
> Imagine if all these systems could be served by a single virtual currency,
> where resources and work donated in one forum earned points which would
> entitle you to privileges in another.  Eric Hughes proposed something
> similar back in the days of the text-based MUD and MOO online games, so
> that you could transfer quota from one system to another.  Or consider the
> example recently where several people expressed interest in having someone
> go back to the early cypherpunk archives and select interesting threads.
> What if each of us had some virtual cash we could transfer to whomever
> did the work.
> 
> The point is that there is a possibility today for an online market in
> informal, peer to peer style information services.  There is work to be
> done, services to provide which remain entirely in the virtual world.
> If you could be rewarded for work you do online with "cash" that would
> allow you to request similar services from others, the monetary system
> can get off the ground.  This might be a more promising start for a
> virtual currency than attempts to tie it immediately to dollars.