Credit Cards Online Information

Cash and credit cards soon may give way to digital money--currency that can be sent over computer networks in the form of digital information. "Shopping on the Internet has prompted the development of a new kind of money," Vary Coates and Steven Bonorris, who made a study of digital money for the Institute of Technology Assessment in Washington, D.C., told the World Future Society, Bethesda, Md. They explained that it may take the form of electronic tokens stored on a computer's hard drive or on "smart" cards that can be loaded with various monetary values.

Millicents is a kind of electronic scrip that carries a signed message, a serial number, and an expiration date. Customers receive millicents from brokers and can then spend it using their modems.

CyberCoins exist as digital tokens that can be purchased from a bank and exchanged for online products that cost less than $10.

CyberCash is a system that utilizes software to create a gateway between the Internet and a credit card company's authorization network. A cybercash system keeps records of transactions and encrypts your payments.

"No one is yet sure what kind of electronic currency, if any, will most appeal to consumers," Coates and Bonorris indicated. Some enthusiasts want digital money to be just like paper money. They want to be able to "make change" electronically, have their new currency widely accepted, and have easy access to funds via computer, laptop, and smart cards. Others want electronic money to have customized features that paper money lacks. Some parents, for example, would like to give their children "conditional" digital allowances that couldn't be spent on cigarettes or liquor.

Some consumers already are using digital money. First Virtual Bank began offering it in 1994 and now has 150,000 accounts. Most Internet merchants, though, are waiting to see which of the competing electronic systems will win out in the marketplace

# posted by Medical Information : 6:07 AM