> > Not necessarily. The issue is accountability. > > Then you're not talking about micropayments or some kind of cash system, but > authentication. It's not an economic thing, but an identification > guarantee. Which is an entirely different set of problems, but at least the > bank regulators can stay out of it.
Maybe, maybe not. Banks have spent a lot of time dealing with questions related to a) are you who you say you are, and b) once we know who you are, do we want to do business with you? Again, this is something they know more about than we do, and I wouldn't dismiss their hard-won expertise, old-fashioned though it might seem. I think this particular line of inquiry might lead to reinventing the credit bureau. We already have those. Once that rated potential ISP customers, the way that regular credit bureaus rate potential bank customers, might not be a bad idea. Regards, John Levine, [EMAIL PROTECTED], Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies", Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://iecc.com/johnl, Sewer Commissioner "Just how much hay did we buy?" asked Tom, balefully.
