-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- HTML Goodies Express wrote: > > ************************************************************ > HTMLGOODIES EXPRESS (tm) > March 13, 2000--Newsletter #71 > ************************************************************ > Please visit http://www.htmlgoodies.com > ************************************************************ > Featured this week: > > * George W. Bush supports Microsoft > * Beanie Baby scammers sentenced > * Amazon.com's patents > ************************************************************ > Sponsored by Atomz > ************************************************************ > ADD A FREE SEARCH FEATURE TO YOUR WEB SITE IN MINUTES > Just sign up at www.atomz.com/goodies add a few lines of > HTML, and in minutes your site will have a powerful and > customizable search feature. > ************************************************************ > > >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > > Last week's newsletter prompted a lot of email. Many of the > emailers were upset because, they said, my email address is > hard to find. I didn't know that it was. To fix that, my > email is now on the HTML Goodies home page, or you can just > write it down: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Please know that every letter to this email gets an > auto-response. I can't say that I'll respond to your email, > but I do look at it. > > >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > > Greetings, Weekend Silicon Warriors, > > Did you hear... > > At least one of the four front running U.S. presidential > candidates is weighing in on a computer issue. George W. > Bush has said he opposes breaking up Microsoft as part of > the U.S. government's anti-trust suit. Stay tuned. If one > has spoken up, the others will soon. > > The Beanie Baby bungler burglars out of Philly have been > given their dues. Officials say that Samuel Miletto, the > official mastermind behind the AOL-based scam, took in > around $5000 by offering "discontinued" babies. Well, that > five grand could mean 105 years in prison as pay back for > 105 counts of wire fraud. Ouch. > > Once again, a cracker has used a portal found in Microsoft > software and grabbed upwards of 25,000 credit card numbers > from eight smaller e-commerce sites. To make matters worst, > the cracker who calls him (or her) self Curador taunted Bill > Gates and those whose card numbers he grabbed on a Web site > set up and paid for with one of the stolen credit card > numbers. Curador wrote: "I would like to thank the nice > people at ALL the Sites I Cracked for having left their > entire sales database, readable & writeable for any one who > bothered to check their site out." > > Alta-Vista has just undertaken an opt-on policy regarding > their user's data. Now, a user must click a checkbox in > order to allow personal data to be used in order to produce > personalized banner ads. Good idea. > > Now onto today's topic... > > The numbers have been released. > > The U.S. government finally decided to include e-commerce in > their surveys of the American economy. In the fourth quarter > of 1999, the Web accounted for $5.3 billion (that's with a > "B") dollars in retail sales. That came out to only 6% of > the economy. > > Although six percent may not seem like a lot at first, it's > a true indicator of the world that is to come. Analysts > claim that 6% is a doubling of the year before. Follow the > logic. Six will become 12, will become 24, etc., etc., etc. > This is just the beginning of it all. > > Of course, that concept is not lost on those who are already > major players in the e-commerce business. Big player > cyber-companies are not only making a grab for more and more > customers, they also want to make a grab for the process > itself. > > The thinking is that if a company can patent a method of > doing business, then all those who follow will need to ante > up every time that method of doing business is undertaken. > > I told this concept to my students and they looked at me > like I had grown a second head. They thought I was joking. > "Patent a way of doing business?" one young lady said. "You > mean a patent on using a box to deliver things or accepting > green pieces of paper in exchange for product?" > > I was actually impressed with her snide delivery. > > Ah, but yet, she's not so far off of the truth. You may > remember a Goodies to Go! Newsletter not too long ago that > told the tale of Amazon.com's lawsuit against Barnes and > Nobel Booksellers. Amazon had patented something they called > a "one-click" technology where consumers familiar to Amazon > could click one button and all of their demographics and > credit card information could be submitted with one click. > The consumer didn't have to fill in all of their address and > card information every time they wanted to buy something. > > That's a good idea, right? It certainly isn't revolutionary, > but it's a good idea. Barnes and Nobel certainly thought so. > They offered something similar and got sued. The outcome is > still pending. > > What do you think of that? Is the one-click technology (I > feel silly calling it that actually - it's just > database-driven check out procedure) really that > revolutionary of an idea that it deserves a patent? I don't > think so, but apparently the U.S. government did. They > granted the patent. > > So, now what? Only Amazon can use the on-click technology? > No, no! Amazon wants everyone to use the one-click deal. They > want it used all over the net. > > Of course, they want a penny or two every time it's used too. > > See? By getting into the e-commerce game early and patenting > a part of the process, it's possible to make money off of > how the process works. Amazing. > > Now Amazon is at it again. They have now been granted a > patent on affiliate programs. You may not have heard of > affiliate programs before, but the world of Web business > sure has. > > An affiliate program is a deal between two (or many) > e-commerce sites where they actually share users. The > programs are set up so that visitors to one site help to > drive customers to another site. The simplest form of the > program is a banner exchange where as two sites trade > advertising banners. > > Of course, it is far more complicated that trading banners > at the e-commerce level. Plus, it's successful. Tom Wyman of > J.P. Morgan claims that affiliate programs account for up to > 20% of all e-commerce sales across sites. That's great. > > The problem is that now Amazon owns the patent on the process. > That means that, if Amazon enforces the patent - which I > believe they will, every time sites set up an affiliate > program - Amazon gets a fee for the privilege. > > If your brain works like mine, the first thing you thought > was that you cannot patent a concept. There must be as many > affiliate program methods as there are affiliate programs. > Surely Amazon.com cannot own a piece of every single one. > > They do, and don't call me Shirley. > > This is a bad patent. It is way too broad and covers too > much ground. It gives too much power and say over too many > events. But what are we to do? > > Well, the site nowebpatents.org has called for a boycott of > Amazon.com for one. It's a nice gesture, but it won't have a > tremendous impact past some bad publicity. This patent > brew-ha-ha, I don't think really interests the end consumer. > He or she wants cheap books delivered to their door. If > someone else has to pay a penny to run the business, I don't > know that it bothers the end consumer. > > No, the real solution is first to hope that Amazon doesn't > enforce the patent. The remainder of the e-commerce world is > bringing a good deal of heat onto Amazon. I would hope that > that would be enough to back Amazon off of a lawsuit, but I > doubt it. They've already protected their hold on the > on-click technology. > > Second, we need to get people at the U.S. patent office that > understand that e-commerce is a fledgling thing and overly > broad patents will do far more harm than good. Patents > should only be granted on specific processes. > > If you would like to patent a one-click technology, do it, > but you only get the patent on how you did it. If another > company finds a different method, then you cannot hold them > to your patent. > > That will not cut into any profits made by the company. > Believe you me, there will be sites that will be more than > willing to buy and pay a licensing fee for the one-click > technology Amazon invented. Many will feel it's worth the > money to buy a system that works. > > But if I can use the idea and do it another way, then you > shouldn't be able to hold me to the patent. The way Amazon's > patent is written is way too broad. That's the problem. > > Now we'll start to see lawsuits over affiliate programs. > That's not good. Now is the time to stop, look at what has > happened and learn from the mistakes made. > > No more broad patents. Patent the process, not the idea. > > >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>New at HTML Goodies > > The March tutorials should be going up as you read. Stop by > http://www.htmlgoodies.com/new.html to see what up next. > > The script tips roll on talking about password protection. > I have three different ones to cover. Stop by. > http://www.htmlgoodies.com/stips/ > > >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > > That's that. Thanks for reading. > > Joe Burns, Ph.D. > > And Remember: Do you know the name: Elwood Edwards? You may > not know the name, but you sure know the voice. He's the > voice that proclaims "You've got Mail" to all our friends > at AOL. > ************************************************************ > Sponsored by Atomz > ************************************************************ > INTRODUCING ATOMZ.COM SEARCH, a quick and easy way to add a > powerful search engine to your website, and it's FREE. > > With Atomz.com Search you can quickly add a display of search > results to any website with just a few lines of HTML and no > programming. You have complete control over the look and feel > and our customizable reports will let you know exactly what > your visitors are searching for. 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