March 12, 2001– Newsletter #121

Greetings, Weekend Silicon Warriors,

Have you finished your taxes yet? I get mine done right
way. However, as big a computer fan as I am, I don’t
submit by electronic means. The reason is, over one in
five returns filed electronically are bounced back because
of problems. H&R Block’s Kiplinger TaxCut and Intuit’s
Quicken TurboTax report a 20% rejection rate. Now
here’s the reason I mail my returnno one at the IRS can
say why the returns are being returned. There’s a
problem that no one quite knows what it is or how to fix
it. I’ll use the stamp again this time around.

Did you hear

The encryption code surrounding DVD discs has been
cracked again. MIT student Keith Winstein and MIT
alumni Marc Horowitz published their seven-line code-
cracking program online. The two state they will
continue to crack future DVD codes and post for the
world to see. The Motion Picture Industry isn’t all that
happy about that statement, as you might have guessed.

The U.S. House of Representatives, by a 223-206 vote,
repealed federal regulations to prevent repetitive-motion
injuries in the workplace. The Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA) regulations were not yet
in effect. They had been passed under former President
Clinton’s administration and would have become law in
October of this year.

The Porn industry, once thought to be the only true profit
making entity on the Web, is reporting problems. Major
sites are starting to lose funds because of a proliferation
of numerous smaller free sites. No matter how low a cost
the big sites offer, free is always better. The only porn
sites that are still quite viable are those considered soft.
These would include sites that are simple Playboy-like
pictorials. It’s the harder sites that are really running into
trouble.

Now onto today’s topic

I logged into one of my favorite sites the other day and
was met with a rather interesting new element. I was
asked to give a dollar.

Have you seen this yet? I was stunned. This site that I
visit numerous times during the week was asking me for
a dollar.

I am being panhandled over the Web.

It’s something that is so new that I ran into it before I had
heard about it. That’s new to me. The process is called
The Honor System and it comes from, of all people,
Amazon.com.

No kidding you can read all about it here:

http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/subst/fx/help/payee-faq.html/

The site that was asking for the dollar explained that the
buck would go to keeping the site free (apart from the
dollar donation I assume) and in return for the
contribution I would receive a couple of downloads for
free. The site said that they would use the dollar to feed a
programmer until his next trip to the vending machine.
Hey, at least they were honest. It’s akin to the guy on the
street with the sign that reads, Give me a buck, I need a
beer.

I don’t know whether to think this is brilliant or goofy.
Amazon.com set up the honor system in order to either
sell digital content or to collect voluntary payments
as low as one dollar. If you’ve ever bought anything
over Amazon.com, and have set up a login and password,
you can donate money to your favorite site, providing the
site has a PayBox (correct spelling) there for you to offer
payment.

I gave you an FAQ link above. There you can set up both
your PayBox, that’s the element you actually place on
your page and a PayPage (also correct spelling).

You plop the PayBox onto your page, someone clicks to
give you a dollar, and that takes him or her to the
PayPage where they then select their Amazon.com credit
card account. A few seconds later, your customized
thank-you page pops up and a buck has been donated.

It’s better than a burgundy military suit, a big base drum,
and a little red kettle.

OK, yes. I can see the true good in this concept. Let’s
say I run a non-profit company. It use to be that I would
have to set up an elaborate system equal to a for-profit
site in order to accept credit card donations over the Web.
No more. Now I can use the card system set up by
Amazon to accept donations and not be out of any money
to set the system up. Oh, sure, there’s a fee, but it’s
nothing compared to paying for the programming, getting
the bank account, and then paying the fee on top of that
for the transaction. This is a great idea.
The problem is, that’s not how it’s going to be used.

It’s going to be used just as I saw it being used.

Gimme a buck.

I actually thought seriously about not writing on this topic
because I know that this newsletter will be the starter for
a slew of people to go to Amazon.com and read all about
the system. The service is there for anyone to use so it’s
only a matter of time before these PayBoxes start to pop
up all over the place. Every site that offers any type of
information will have at the bottom of every page:

Gimme a buck.

Surfing the Web might start to feel like a walk around
lower Manhattan.

Gimme a buck.

At least the site that first panhandled me was offering
something in return. If I gave a dollar, I would receive
some content. No, I didn’t donate a buck to find out, but
the site has been fairly truthful in the past so I have no
reason to doubt them regarding their request for a buck.

How many sites do you think will actually do that, huh?
Or, how many sites will actually proclaim to provide
content and then not send anything, or better yet, sign up
you up for a newsletter. That would be a real trophy,
huh? Gimme a buck and I’ll sign you up for my
newsletter. Geethanks.

Oh, well. It’s out there now. I certainly see the good side
of it. I can see a guy who builds software using the
Honor System to collect money for his work or a woman
who creates graphics for download asking for some
money for her time. I can see the non-profit site using the
system to accept donations. However, I get the feeling
those types of sites will be in the minority.

I believe the overwhelming bulk of the users will be
people who once had that Bannermania spark in their
eyes (A penny a click? I’ll be rich!) saying:

Gimme a buck.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

That’s that. You read it. NowGimme a buck.

Joe Burns, Ph.D.

And remember: Have you ever heard of a face being
called a mug? It came from the 18th-century practice of
carving grotesque human faces on sides of drinking
glasses. Needless to say, if you’re told you have a nice
mug, it isn’t a compliment.