Re: NYT Crypto OpEd

[Kevin Stephenson <kevin.stephenson@pobox.com>]

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 At 05:36 PM 7/15/98 -0400, you wrote: >The NYT has a fairly good OpEd
on encryption today, >written by a novelist, who makes a good case for
>the citizen's need for the privacy protection, now that >there are a
zillion ways computers pry into private >affairs. > >=A0=A0
http://www.nytimes.com > >For those outside the US: NYT today began
its free  >worldwide online service, so the whole world can log  >on
to its prying computers. (Non-USes heretofore  >had to pay for privacy
loss.) It claims to have 4 million  >daily online consumers and is happy
to run an advertiser  >drivern operation to suck in millions more around
the  >planet. > >Take note, Slate. >   How many smaller sites
will be able to break even with advertising subsidies, let alone make a
profit? Advertisers are going to head to the big sites and you'll see a
media concentration on the Internet just like TV and print, unless small
sites can find a creative way to charge for content.  If people aren't
willing to pay for on-line New York Times, they sure  as hell aren't going
to pay much if anything for Mom and Pop's Independent Media/Content. If
they were willing to pay, they probably wouldn't want to use an unfamiliar
and exotic technology like digital cash and they don't want to ring up
$1.00 charges on their Visa for the smaller bits of content wanted from
these other providers.  How about consolidated third-party content billing,
with monthly payment to the billing company by any form (check, cash,
digital cash, credit card, gold coins)? Full anonimity available when
paying with cash or the like.  Give the consumer easy credit and they will
come.
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