Seminar on Network Security
Introduction of the topics and some material for the session of
Payment on the Net
Tutor: Yki Kortesniemi
- Payment on the Net (Yki Kortesniemi)
- How buying and paying on the net differ from traditional situations?
- New situations, new ways of paying?
- Available technologies, their applications and limitations?
- How secure are payments on the net?
- The future of paying?
- Electronic money (Yki Kortesniemi)
- How money differs from other ways of paying? - among others, consider privacy issues
- What are the key requirements for electronic money?
- What are the major problems in implementing electronic money?
- What solutions are their to these problems?
- How secure is electronic money?
- What are the major benefits of electronic money?
- The future of electronic money?
- Micro Payment (Yki Kortesniemi)
This paper should touch the following questions:
This paper should touch the following questions:
The sale of goods on the Internet can be divided in two groups: the sale of tangible and intangible. In particular, the intangible goods can sometimes be priced so low that the traditional methods of payment, like credit cards, tend to have too high an overhead to be practical. So, new mechanisms are required.
This paper could analyse the needs for micro payments, present the most common solutions available, evaluate their suitability, present ideas for improvement and touch the usability issues involved, but the emphasis is to be agreed on with the tutor and could include the questions presented below.
Micro payments would make it possible to charge a sub-penny amount for each transaction, like looking up the timetable for a bus. But what about the users' attitudes? Many users hate the idea that they would have to pay something, no matter how little, every time they use a service - they would rather pay a fixed amount every month. But monthly payments only work for regular services, not for once-in-a-lifetime situations. So, is there still need for micro payments?
Another problem is the management of micro payments. The user is not likely to be interested in approving every single transaction manually - but if we allow the device to authorise the payments automatically, how do we stop it from wasting a fortune without the user's consent?
Material to begin with
-
A Bibliography of Electronic Payment Information
- Electronic Money
- Subsection on money, in particular Money - Past, Present & Future
- Electronic money
- EU report on electronic money in U.S.
- Report on the security of electronic money
- The cryptography of anonymous cash
- Electronic Money : What does it mean for charities?
For information on using credit cards on the net, see the credit card companies, like Luottokunta, Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club, American Express.
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Network Security teaching staff,
The page has last been updated on
29.6.1999
URL: http://www.tcm.hut.fi/Opinnot/Tik-110.501/1999/index.html