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Supported by this: https://www.x.com/thread/24103;jsessionid=59B91CEAC2684515EB8CED479BB2E1A7.node0?tstart=2

And: http://feedback.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=aussie_a&ftab=AllFeedback&myworld=true

The timeframe of the literature supports the prior web development question. I presume this person was aiming to start some sort of online merchant business. And has some decent taste in phones.

And potentially another: http://www.facebook.com/people/Louis-Aldum/1021724556

If any of these sources are right it wouldnt take much social engineering to dig deeper. There are also plenty of other sites spamming the links - but it almost fits with some of the books purchased by the aussie_a ebay account. A matching email address of "kwikincome@yahoo.com" could be related to such a fella.

Frankly I hope most of this information is wrong since you've made such a challenge and that there's another guy in Australia who's been less careful. And I wont lie - I'm pretty easy to figure out, but I don't try to hide that fact.

They're the only ones that offer:
1) easy website integration
2) thousands of programmers know how to setup advanced shopping carts thanks to the developer network
3) customers that trust them (that's very important)

and I thought of some more:
4) instant access to funds using the Paypal debit card.
5) 800 number where I can speak to a real person when I have a problem. Doesn't happen often but when the account is frozen (again) I want a real live person to tell me why ASAP

someone mentioned Amazon Payments which might be a great alternative since everyone's heard of Amazon and Amazon's fees are the exact same as Paypal's fees, 0 to $3,000.00 USD = 2.9% + $0.30 USD per transaction

I'll check out their API and see if we can use it.

sort of like having a short domain name prefix

Most are parked with typo magnet type pages:
yes.com
no.com

a few are borderline, actually having something of a topic:

go.com

And only a very few actually have a purpose:

me.com (how did they get that?)

Because everyone thinks of "nisson" when they see "Z" (Z)

Hey this is kinda fun.

Paypal of course reminds everyone of "X" (X) Makes you seriously wonder if it's legit doesn't it?

OK found one that makes sense. Say Q for Qwest! (Q)

And for reasons I cannot begin to fathom, NO other domains (A-Z).com are in use. Just Q, X, and Z.

Easy solution - de-politicize the internet by getting rid of TLD domains. I don't know squat about the technical particulars, but why can't we set up the internet such that TLDs are unnecessary? If I type "yahoo" into my address bar, it should just resolve to some IP address setup by ya

It doesn't matter if you strip the .com off of www.yahoo.com.

If you had www.yahoo then .yahoo is now your tld. That's just sorta the way DNS works.

A better question is why there are no single letter tlds. Or for that matter, single letter second level domains (other than one or two, q.net which seems to no longer work, but do try x.com This one might surprise you.

If people are just trying to find a newspaper's home page, then Google removing their ability to do that via Google would, certainly, undermine Google's credibility with end users. If I search for "New York Times", I expect to find the NYT's website. ...

Maybe what google should do is inform the user of the problem. Instead of the usual excerpt showing your search terms, they could say something like:

X's main page
There is a relevant page at X, but X doesn't allow us to show you their text. So we've just provide a link to X's main page, and you can try their search tool to find the page. Good luck.

This might get across to X's management that they've shot themselves in the feet.

You mean like x.com

Paypal already has http://x.com/ , im not sure how, but theyve had it for years....

No, you can't. Nintendo has sent out many cease and desist letters under the DCMA. In fact, I have my own letter linked right here. Read it, weep, and donate to my legal defence fund using Paypal.

So a Rocket Scientist created paypal, huh?

Not exactly... as I understand it, he got rich from PayPal (originally at this cool URL), *then* started SpaceX.

So in effect, PayPal created a Rocket Scientist!

What's next? Google Labs creating a Brain Surgeon?

The small shops are usually the places the high school and college students get their first HTML gigs in. Granted, the sites come out looking less-than-beautiful, but there's no reason to get left entirely behind. With the advent of PayPal just about anyone can set up shop online with minimal barrier to entry.

*shrug*

PayPal is also X.com. Once upon a time, X.com was a person-to-person payment service like PayPal, but they merged back in 2000. Yeah, it does seem a little suspicious at first, but it seems it is legit (as legit as PayPal is anyway).

Here is the actual paypal link: Paypal link.

• www.q.com
• www.x.com
• www.z.com
• www.x.org

My check is on the way too.

To save you some searching, here's the info from the dyndns.org pages:

Donations can be sent to:

Dynamic DNS Network Services
210 Park Ave. #267
Worcester, MA, 01609 USA

Please make any checks payable to:

Dynamic DNS Network Services, LLC

They also accept PayPal and Kagi.

So I went though all the domains, and noticed that only z.com seems to be a functioning website (redirects to Nissan's website.)

Since you also mentioned two-letter domain names in your post as being verboten, what about Hewlett-Packard or Texas Instruments? (You need the "www." in front of them, though, to access their websites. General Motors, OTOH, works without the "www.")

A online bank's opening has been marred by a glitch that let customers transfer money from any U.S. bank account.

This was a much larger problem than any problem with Passport ever could be -- you didn't have to use x.com to become a victim. Anyone with a U.S. bank account could be affected. But Paypal has become extremely popular, so I guess people have forgotten about this.

Jan 12 is HAL's birthday!

Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/

PayPal

and donate some money to their LDF. I have, and so should you. With MAPS you get a clear benefit as well as knowing your doing the right thing.

Like many others here that run OpenBSD, I've got a collection of CDs from previous releases, and really don't need another CD, since I can just snarf the updates.

Rather than get Yet Another T-Shirt, I suggest that people wanting to make a donation do it via PayPal. The OpenBSD user on PayPal is: obsdpaypal@openbsd.org. This is by far the easiest way to send them money, and it all goes to the project.

If you're a corporation that uses OpenBSD, I suggest that they make a nice donation - I've usually suggested $1000 as a suitable amount.

-Erik

Fleet Homelink works just fine with Lynx and also Netscape on Linux. I'm not a big fan of big banks, but they've got their online banking stuff done right.

Also, x.com finance, which provides a no-fee checking account w/ Visa check card and ATM fee reimbursement if you keep a $100 minimum balance, works just fine with Lynx too. I have one of these accounts and keep a few hundred bucks in it for getting cash at ATM's where I'd be charged a fee. Fleet doesn't reimburse these fees, but x.com does.

I see plenty of direct-action "break the codes and set them free" type talk on /., talk about fighting for the digital future and our rights. Wholly absent from the debate seems to be a coherent vision of what the future should be, how corporations can survive in the digital age and still make money from their efforts.

Thank you!! An intelligent, incisive question, one worthy of conspicuous, public debate.

Speaking entirely on behalf of myself, you are correct that a cohesive vision of How Things Should Be has been absent from my rants. This is because I believe designing a successful, durable, workable, just system would require the efforts of a group of incredibly talented, wise people, the likes of which have not been gathered since the framing of the Constitution. I don't believe I possess such gifts.

I do have a few vague, disconnected ideas. To fully appreciate them, however, you need to understand the framework in which I developed them:

Axiom: When the ability to copy is ubiquitous, and when the incremental cost of copying is effectively zero, the effective value of any given copy -- including the "original" copy -- is zero. (I state this as axiomatic, but I'm willing to discuss its merits. And please note that this assertion says nothing about the effort/resources required to create the original in the first place.)

As a supporting argument, consider the universe presented in the TV show Star Trek. (This may seem silly, but Star Trek is a useful framework for comparison, as everyone's familiar with it.) In a world where everything, including physical objects, can be replicated at zero cost, what is the economic impact? I argue that the market-based economy collapses completely, since its fundamental supports (scarcity and inconvenience) have been eliminated.

I also believe that the social impact will be that casual copying will be seen as perfectly okay, and that the desire to not share copies will be seen as childish. After all, if anyone anywhere -- including artisans -- can copy anything at any time for nothing, then what, fundamentally, will be wrong with copying anything?

So, in a universe where copying everything is seen as perfectly okay, is there anything an artisan should still have control over? I contend that the most crucial aspect of creativity still needing strict controls is the artisan's reputation.

Consider: On a visit to the Enterprise, you see an object you quite like. Naturally, you ask, "Wow! Who made that?" Both you and the object's creator would like to be certain you receive an accurate answer. Note that the question of whether the object you saw was an original or a copy is irrelevant. You no longer care if an object is "genuine;" you want to know who did it. In other words, you want to know about their reputation. (After all, maybe they did other cool stuff, too.)

...Okay, so we don't live on the Enterprise (yet), and we all still have to pay the rent. However, I strongly believe the concept of reputation will be central to a re-design of economics and the concept of intellectual "property" in the digital universe. Reputation will become a chief scarce resource in the digital universe, because it is an artist's reputation that will guide you to their other scarce resource: their time. And it is their time that you will be paying for (no more doing stuff "on spec").

In terms of more immediate, concrete proposals, I've heard the following ideas floated:

• Mass-Market Buskware, or the "tipping jar" model. Many question whether such a system can work on a large scale. So far, author Stephen King seems to be doing rather well by it with his free offering, The Plant. However, it's probably worth noting the primary reason he's doing so well is largely due to -- drumroll, please -- his reputation.
• Pre-Release Mass Auction (preBay?). This is a system whereby software/music/whatever is made available for a flat price, and bidders can contribute whatever amount they wish toward that price.

  For example, let's say John Carmack creates his latest game, qDuOaOkMe, and decides that, for all his efforts and that of his company, he wants to see $50 million. So he posts it to the site: "qDuOaOkMe: $50,000,000". People the world over pledge $25, $50, $100, whatever they feel it's worth toward the final price. When the price is reached, Carmack gets the money, and the game is released free to all. The entry is also kept open on the site so people who didn't bid can continue to throw tips. If the price is not met after a pre-set time, all pledges are returned to the bidders, and the game isn't released.

• Shareware. This model has met with mixed success in the past, mostly due to the relative inconvenience of sending in the requested fees. "Impulse" buying, until recently, hasn't been easy. Fortunately, services like Kagi and PayPal may well rejuvenate this idea.
• Automatic Micropayments. This is certainly an idea worthy of exploration, but I have concerns about the implications for privacy.

Other ideas are likely out there, and worthy of attention.

Also for immediate consideration, there should be some study into the use of digital watermarks for identifying the artist of a given work. Right now, all the discussion surrounding watermarks has been with an eye toward controlling proliferation of copies, which is unworkable. However, I believe even the most virulent opponent of copy protection would support using digital watermarks to identify the artist, thereby preserving -- wait for it -- their reputation.

Like I said, I don't think I have what it takes to completely design the new system. I've also completely avoided rather sticky issues, such Moral Rights (e.g. should an artist be able to enforce the declaration, "No, you can't use my painting in the background of a porno video"). But I do know that the current system will ultimately prove to be fundamentally unworkable, if for no other reason than the sheer numbers involved (how many copyrighted works will you need to test against to make sure you're not infringing?).

So, yes, you're right. We need to think about this, and it needs to be done rationally and publicly. Too bad the entertainment industry's using all that bandwidth to paint us all as criminals.

Schwab

If you wish to converse in any language using any medium including voice, writing, printing, gestures, chemical, telepathy, electronic or physical, encrypted or metaphysical a one time licencing fee of $5.00 is required. Payments can be made exclusively with paypal by clicking the link below.

Purchase a License to use language (Cost $5)

Remember that PayPal will give you $5 dollars just for signing up. A real bargain! Click the logo below.

Click here to sign up for PayPal (Get $5)

If you wish to converse in any language using any medium including voice, writing, printing, gestures, chemical, telepathy, electronic or physical, encrypted or metaphysical a one time licencing fee of $5.00 is required. Payments can be made exclusively with paypal by clicking the link below.

Purchase a License to use language (Cost $5)

Remember that PayPal will give you $5 dollars just for signing up. A real bargain! Click the logo below.

Click here to sign up for PayPal (Get $5)

By the way, aside from the charge-backs, PayPal customers now have insurance against unauthorized withdrawals.
--

Buy an auction item

Settle restaurant checks with friends

Pay a portion of rent to roommates

Send money to your children at college

Well, at least he didn't say "and I use it to send money to my children at college!" ;)

Personally, I generally leave a few bucks in my PayPal account and consider the tiny amount of interest a payment for the convenience.

And it's not as if they aren't compl etely up-front about this. Adam

Huh? It's the same with PayPal:

3. International Use. You must be a resident of the United States to use the Service. International accounts will be available soon.

from the terms and conditions. AFAIK it has always been like this.

It's not really an issue at the moment, is it? From the Terms of Use:

3. International Use. You must be a resident of the United States to use the Service. International accounts will be available soon.

That "available soon" has been there since they started...

If someone installed a trojan in your computer, would he not get instant access to your wallet?

Old "harmless" viruses and trojan horses could only delete your files. Now a virus can delete your cash!

See the terms of use, section II.2.e. PayPal are not liable if this happens!

On the other hand, section III talks about Insurance Against Unauthorized Access. But how do you prove that a payment to pr0n@s3x.com was unauthorized? If the trojan deletes itself after doing it?

Does anyone know if there is anything like this already in existance? Would you use it if it were available?

It's called X.Com, the Internet bank. They offer a high interest checking account, with free debit card, fifty printed checks to start you out, and allow deposits by EFT or good old-fashioned snailmail. They also allow you to email people money, though the people must have or get an X account (or request them to mail a check) to use it.

Getting to it is a bit confusing, though--you have to go to X.Com-PayPal's homepage then click on the little X Finance link below the login box, then click on the "Where's X Finance?" link at the top of the page.

Enjoy!
--

Well, from their Jobs page They're looking for a Risk Management Specialist and a Legal Counsel with international experience, so maybe that's holding them up.

(from PayPal's website):

The recipient gets an email that says "You've Got Cash!"

Do they really expect people not to dump such an Email directly to /dev/null ?

3. International Use. You must be a resident of the United States to use the Service. International accounts will be available soon.

How Soon?

#include "disclaim.h"
"All the best people in life seem to like LINUX." - Steve Wozniak

Then you missed the part about $100,000 of insurance from Traveler's Insurance placed on each account (for free).

Now that X.com has launched the world's first wireless payment platform for mobile phones, many of our Palm users have made the transition to the new product. With the growth of wireless Internet applications and the rapid spread of web-enabled PDAs, we feel that we can best serve our customers by focusing on the creation of new features for our wireless payments platform. As a result, we will be discontinuing support for the Palm product.

The only digital-media distribution systems that make sense are RMS's tax-based proposal, the Street Performer Protocol, and the electronic tip jar. All of these schemes share two traits:

1. they don't prevent people from copying a digital work and not paying
2. over 90% of the money that the customer pays or gives in these schemes goes directly to the artist

1. includes some form of copy protection or watermarking
2. maximizes the baksheesh that record companies can get from the blockbusters they push

PayPal has now set up a system to allow individuals to receive payments of any amount through any web page they like.

The buyer clicks on a link, enters payment information, and then goes back to the original site. Anyone can do this now, not just Steven King!

You can also use http://www.x.com/ to get there too .. saves typing in paypal, paypai .. or whatever.

www.paypal.com redirects to www.x.com anyway.

--

PayPal is offering (in collaboration with XBank) a new business PayPal account option. I haven't read too much about it, but it's such a unliateral program that it might be worth c hecking into if nothing else.

And, since I gotta, use me (JArtis1@aol.com) as a referrer if you *DO* go that way...

Obviously you haven't heard of x.com :) (or q.com, for that matter, but I wouldn't expect anyone to have heard of them).

Oh PAYPAL.. Another lamb ready for slaughter. How long before the expenses and fraud catch up with PayPal? Talk about a zero sum gain business. Speaking of "lets just throw some money down the toilet", how about dialpad.com, how long can that last?

But as for PayPal, I can tell you right now they must be making scads of money off the thing. PayPal's one of the most popular auction-payment services ever...which means a whole lot of money is passing through their coffers every day. Do you think they don't float interest off of that money?

Furthermore, they just introduced a "business account" system, where they provide additional services to those who want them, while taking up to 2.5% of those transactions. They were certainly attractive enough to be bought out by the X.com full-service Internet bank within just a few months of their creation.

Trust me on this--banks have little tricks of making money off of things that would cause you or I to scratch our heads. They wouldn't be providing this service if they didn't think it would make them a bundle.
--

Since you live in the UK, a lot of options like X.COM or PAYPAL aren't available to you. On the other hand, there are relatively inexpensive escrow services--in particular, iEscrow--that can take the place of your "trust" in dealing with online merchants.

The idea is simple--pay your money to iEscrow--, with a $2.50 fee (normally), the merchant sends you the merchandise, you inspect it, then release the money held in escrow to the merchant if you're satisfied.

The problem with using Escrow services is that most merchants won't want to deal with them, since they require you, the customer, have an "inspection period" to inspect the merchandise and make sure everything's ok before you send them the money. This means that not only do you have to trust the merchant, but the merchant also has to trust you, the consumer. Most are unwilling to do this, and so will instead try to get you to send alternate forms of proof of ID, like you're dealing with now.

As several people mentioned below, the person or people asking you for photo ID for a silly credit transaction are mostly causing themselves problems, not you.

I've never seen one that will reject a domain of only one character followed by a .net, .org, etc.

why would it? check out x.com and x.org

========

Ok... I have *No* credit... Not bad credit, just no credit. I have NOT been able to open an account there because I get rejected everytime. I also try a simaler bank with the *same* problem. I recently opened an account with X.com and have been *very happy* with them. They gave you $20.00 FREE when opening an account and they give a 3.9% APR on check accounts. All services are 100% free and they have *no minimum* CD's and Mutual funds. (also free). They also send me a Debit Visa and gave me a $200.00 crrdit line (9.9% APR. They have been awesome. They sent free checks for the account also and they make is easy to transfer funds to friends and in/out of other bank accounts of deposit money via credit card (or debit from your existing bank). I have never seen service like this before. And to top it all off they have a geeky name and a cool logo. Click here to open an account, they will put $20.00 free in your account as soon as it's opened.

Ok... I have *No* credit... Not bad credit, just no credit. I have NOT been able to open an account there because I get rejected everytime. I also try a simaler bank with the *same* problem. I recently opened an account with X.com and have been *very happy* with them. They gave you $20.00 FREE when opening an account and they give a 3.9% APR on check accounts. All services are 100% free and they have *no minimum* CD's and Mutual funds. (also free). They also send me a Debit Visa and gave me a $200.00 crrdit line (9.9% APR. They have been awesome. They sent free checks for the account also and they make is easy to transfer funds to friends and in/out of other bank accounts of deposit money via credit card (or debit from your existing bank). I have never seen service like this before. And to top it all off they have a geeky name and a cool logo. Click here to open an account, they will put $20.00 free in your account as soon as it's opened.