From hol-owner Mon Mar 6 12:11:10 1995 Return-Path: owner-HOL-announce Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id MAA06514 for hol-announce-out31415; Mon, 6 Mar 1995 12:11:10 -0800 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id MAA06505 for hol-announce; Mon, 6 Mar 1995 12:10:58 -0800 Received: via =-=-=-=-= from carlson@odin.net for hol-announce@hungary.yak.net (hol-announce) Received: from odin.net (root@omega.odin.net [193.130.116.3]) (fnord) by nando (8.6.5/8.6.5) with ESMTP id MAA06326 for ; Mon, 6 Mar 1995 12:08:32 -0800 Received: from [193.130.116.13] by odin.net with SMTP (8.6.10/1.2-btv) id VAA01425; Mon, 6 Mar 1995 21:19:58 GMT Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Mon, 6 Mar 1995 21:03:22 +0100 To: hol-announce@hungary.yak.net From: carlson@odin.net (Steven Carlson) Subject: (HOL-A) HOL> credit cards get wired Sender: owner-HOL-announce@hungary.yak.net Precedence: bulk Reply-To: HOL@hungary.yak.net hungary-online credit cards get wired by Steven Carlson Managing your finances while overseas can be a major headache. If you have bills to pay back home you have to trust the local mail to get them to you in time. Calling up the bank to check your balance means a long distance call. Isn't there an easier way? What if you could call up your credit card balance through your modem? What if you could just send checks like email? What if ... This kind of speculation is attracting Big Players to what may be well be a billion dollar industry in the making. The rush is on to develop secure payment systems that will enable consumers to shop and bank with their PCs. The risks are high, as demonstrated earlier this month when US Federal authorities arrested a hacker accused of stealing 20,000 credit card numbers. But the potential rewards are dizzying. Credit card companies and banks see handsome profits in providing services to the present 30 million Internet users, which includes three million merchants. VISA International group VP William Chenevich expects Internet transactions to grow one percent per day. To tap that market VISA has struck an alliance with Microsoft. The PC software giant is developing an online service, Microsoft Network, which will be bundled with the Windows 95 operating system. Already some 60 million computers run on Microsoft software. As these users upgrade they become potential Microsoft Network users. Thus the Windows 95 release, scheduled this Fall, could create an online service several times larger than all the others combined. This has competitors crying foul. Meanwhile the US Justice Department is concerned about another Microsoft deal. Late last year Microsoft announced its $1.5 billion purchase of Intuit Corp., makers of the popular personal finance software Quicken. With Quicken, those "what ifs" above are already a reality. A plug-in service called QuickCheck lets you send payment to any postal address from within Quicken. First you fill out what looks to be an ordinary check on your computer screen. With a click of the mouse that information is sent via your modem to another Intuit company, the National Payment Clearing-house Inc., where a "real" check is printed and sent onward via surface mail. QuickCheck can also initiate bank transfers for you the same way. Another service called IntelliCard sends your credit card information to you each month. Both services work within the same program you use to track your money. And as long as you have a telephone (that works) you can move your money from any point on the globe. Convenient? Sure. With the Quicken interface plus their own considerable clout, Microsoft and VISA stand a good chance of dominating the personal financial market for years to come. If the deal goes through, that is. The Justice Department has already been sniffing around for evidence that Microsoft engages in anti-competitive practices like announcing products far in advance of their release date to stifle potential rivals. Justice is now examining the Intuit deal, and may decide to block it. Meanwhile bankers are feeling left out of the loop. With Microsoft providing the Interface, and VISA the payment system, what role would banks have? In the worst case banks would lose contact with their clients, becoming simply faceless agents that process transactions. But have no fear. Several banks are already gearing up to give Microsoft a run for the money. Not surprisingly, the leaders are California's three major banks: First Interstate Bankcorp, BankAmerica, and Wells Fargo. First in the pack is Wells Fargo, which has teamed up with Reston Va.-based CyberCash. This startup is the brainchild of Bill Melton, founder of the point of sale terminal manufacturer Verifone, Inc. The technology Melton helped develop allows merchants to verify credit card transactions at the cash register; he now wants to take this idea to the Net. Wells Fargo and CyberCash are presently testing the system with a handful of California merchants. Close on Wells' heels, First Interstate and BankAmerica have signed agreements with Netscape Communications of Mountain View, CA, another recent startup. Last year Netscape developed a browser software for the World Wide Web and gave it away on the Internet, thus capturing a significant user base. This year Netscape is selling server software that will allow merchants to sell their products. Netscape has attracted serious partners including MasterCard and MCI. MCI is presently beta testing the Netscape product on their MarketplaceMCI Internet shopping service. Heard enough yet? There's more: each of the above players is taking part in an ambitious scheme called CommerceNet, which also involves several major Silicon Valley companies. The US government pitched in $6 million as part of Clinton's Technology Reinvestment Project. The project is strictly non-profit, and will provide companies the capability to disseminate product info, sign contracts, make bids and engage in transactions over the Net. Of course, the lynchpin of each transaction system is strong encryption, which scrambles credit card data and provides a credible means of identifying users. However the US government currently forbids the export of advanced encryption technology. That could mean folks outside the United States will have to wait for all these wonders of technology. Of course the Quicken services are an exception. Neither QuickCheck nor IntelliCard use encryption schemes, but send the data in a quick burst over a regular telephone connection. Is this safe? Yes - so far. [blurb] Steven Carlson is an Internet trainer and technology writer ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright (c) 1995. Permission granted to redistribute this article in electronic form for non-profit purposes only. My byline and this message must remain intact. Contact me for reprint rights. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --- Steven Carlson Moderator/Publisher - hungary-online Critical Mass Media Inc. Internet trainer, consultant [+361] 133-4647 in Budapest, Hungary carlson@odin.net ############# # This message to HOL-announce@hungary.yak.net # was from carlson@odin.net (Steven Carlson) # # To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe" to # For a full subscription (rather than this announcement-only subscription) # mail "subscribe" to # Send mail to for more information, # or to if you need human assistance. #############