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Deutsche Telekom To Launch "MicroMoney"
XMLGuy writes: "Over on heise online there is news that the German Telekom will be launching a prepaid Internet payment card called "MicroMoney" this Fall. The idea is that you buy the card from places like a gas-station, scratch off the covering of the code number, then sniff the card (ok -- so no sniffing). You then use the code number to pay for whatever you happen to want to buy online. Up to now only a couple of merchants are listed -- so it will be interesting to see how this takes off. Oh, and as an add-on you can also use the card in public telephones. The cards will be available in units of 20, 50 or 100 German Marks." The Fish is your friend. These are supposed to soon be available at over 80,000 retail outlets across Germany, with 16-digit PINs. Think "phone card."
Electric money is quite simply, the work of Satan :) For anyone even vaguely concerned about privacy and Government intrusion (which should be you if you're reading /.), then opposing its introduction is somethng you should be doing.
If you were English (obviously you're not), you'd be aware of prepaid cards like this for mobile phones, and would know that they are WAY better for privacy than whatever you're probably using now.
I can walk into a shop here in London, buy a mobile phone for cash, then buy £5 cards from the newsagent (also for cash), and use them to make calls. 100% anonymous. Physically, it works exactly the same as is described here - the card has a long number on it, you scratch the silver crap off to reveal it, then dial a number on your mobile and type it in. Then you have more credit to make calls with.
They try to encourage you to register your phone, by offering some free credit if you give them your name and address, but you sure don't have to if you don't want to. It's a prank caller's dream! Now imagine that you can get a £5 card for cash and use that to buy pr0n online.
So how is this "a sneaky way for the Government to get your life on file" ? Or were you just trolling?
Of course, if you order a lot on-line then this won't be convenient at all. Think 'cell phone', the only people who do not have one do not make calls on the road often. So the only users who will use this will be the casual ones - still a huge market!
I'll stick with my creditcard though. Unsafe? I doubt it, I've been using it on-line for six years now and I have not encountered any false transaction yet. There's a bigger chance that some vague waiter at the restaurant copies your details when your card is out of sight than a cracker decrypting your SSL connection or breaking into your favourite e-shop.
No, here's the deal. It does cost one cent to comment (after all you are using Slashdot to punish your thoughts). However, if you are moderated up from your original score, your post is free. After all, your post definitely contributes to Slashdot.
Furthermore, users who have high karma no longer get bother with banner ads anymore, since all the trolls would generate enough income for /. to give the elite (and karma whores) a break.
Posting anonymously costs more because of the complications to scramble the connection between payment and post.
I think it would make the forum a lot more valuable. On the other hand, more reason to abuse the mod system.
Here come's Telekom's Micromoney...
Buy that dress! Buy that beer! You've got money!
Hey, look a porn site! Key your code now!
Come on you got to scratch and sniff
And peel it right (I said, peel it right)
I say, yeah... yeah... yeah... yeah..
(Chorus)
'Cause I like to spend (Micromoney)
So much (Micromoney)
Too much (Micromoney)
Not good (Micromoney)
Not fine (Micromoney)
Where mine? (Micromoney)
It was mine, but I spent all night
They said, "Yeah..." (Yeah!) "Yeah..." (Yeah!) "Yeah..." (Yeah!)
They said I could spend it, Micromoney
Now I can't end it, no more Micromoney
I can't stop surfin' though I have no cash now
Can't stop now, no Micromoney
Need more (Yeah), I said, "More!" (Yeah!) Yeah! (Yeah)
(Repeat chorus)
I love my micro-micro-money...
I love my micro-micro-money... (Sure I do)
I love my micro-micro-money... (Yes, it's true)
I love my micro-micro-money... (Turnin' blue!)
I love my micro-micro-money... (Snifin' glue..)
I love my micro-micro-money... (Rent is due!)
I love my micro-micro-money... (Banks will sue!)
I love my micro-micro-money...
Yeah... Yeah... Yeah... Yeah... Yeah... Yeah...
Come on! Pay up!
Come on! I'm stuck!
Come on! What luck!
Found a card! I say, "yeah..." (Yeah!) "Yeah!" (Yeah!) "Yeah!" (Yeah!)
'Cause now I can spend (Micromoney)
Some more! (Micromoney)
You whore! (Micromoney)
I'm poor! (Micromoney)
My money's outa sight
It don't feel so fight
They say, "Yeah!" (Yeah!) "Yeah!" (Yeah!)
No more... (Micromoney)
I'm poor... (Micromoney)
I'm sore.... (Micromoney)
.
.
.
--
"May I have ten thousand marbles, please?"
The advantage over credit cards is not that evident, except (possibly) that people can't steal over 100 German marks (at present, about $42 or 48) by stealing your number.
One word:
anonymity
Now I can subscribe to "Nuns In Chains" without getting funny entries on my credit card bill.
Old COBOL programmers never die. They just code in C.
Napster is 1 cent a search and $1 the song. Google goes 20 searches a cent. The Fish costs you 0.2 cents the word and BritannicaOnline will charge 10 cents per search.
Anyone still remembers knows good old BTX (or teletex)? You had to pay certain small amounts per page, which havebeen charged to your phonebill.. HORRIBLE!
I hope this won't work out as most things by Deutsche Telekom do.
Cheers, Peter
KdenLive/PIAVE - non-linear video editing
So these prepaid cards are actually a way to stay anonymous, as opposed to credit cards, which can be tracked.
At the gas station:
- What do you need all these for? You bought a dozen just yesterday...
- Uhmmm... I read a lot of news online?
Electric money is quite simply, the work of Satan :) For anyone even vaguely concerned about privacy and Government intrusion (which should be you if you're reading /.), then opposing its introduction is somethng you should be doing. This is one of those times when we don't need any more technology, because what we have easily suffices.
Sure, you can argue, we already use electronic money on the internet. Well yes we do, but we don't need new forms appearing, because every time they do it becomes more likely that a country's government will decide that the time is right for a general electronic currency, and introduce it.
And then every purchase you make is logged and tracked. And at will, the Government can block your money. Don't think they won't either. If you're even suspected of any wrong-doing then you'll swiftly find yourself unable to buy anything unless you check into the police station every day. And in the modern liberal trend of protecting people from their own "mistakes", the list of verboten behaviours is growing by the day.
Quite simply, electronic money is just a sneaky way for the Government to get your life on file. Don't be fooled by the technology.
Well there are key generators for little shareware programs up the more expensive software. How long will it take for there to be good ones made so you can buy physical stuff for free? They may have some good random number grnerators but someone can easily try a few thousand combinations in a short time to an online etailer.
Aha, but to scratch the card in the first place you need a coin.
The Deutsche Telekom has done some piloting experiments that did not turn out entirely bad, but they still haven't been able to entirely solve the key generator problem. They have a system in Germany called the GeldKarte (link in German, of course, since it's a German system) which is basically a phonecard-esque payment card linked to a special type of account at your bank; you can load your card with arbitrary amounts of money and use it for cash. This is basically the same thing, except that it works without putting your card in some slot but by specifying your 16-digit number. The advantage over credit cards is not that evident, except (possibly) that people can't steal over 100 German marks (at present, about $42 or 48) by stealing your number. On the other hand, the high granularity always forces you to keep a large number of cards if you want to order anything online that costs more than these 100 marks. BTW the card is Euro-aware, of course, because the value stays the same, it's just a different currency. So you buy a 100 marks card and when you use it after January 1, 2002, it's an 48 card. Not a problem. After the euro introduction, they'll probably shift to 50 and start selling them throughout Europe.
There is absolutely no reason to panic.
The Germans have been scratching and paying for their prepaid cellphones for a while now, but I doubt that this will work.
If you pay for your cellphone, you can throw the card away after using the number. The card number is invalid right after you use it, and all the money if tranferred.
But with this system, you get to keep the card until the money "on" it is used up. How are all the vendors supposed to keep track of the cards? If it isn't done in realtime then I could overdraw a card. And that won't be a problem because I bought the card anonymously.
Also remember that all micropayment systems have failed. The Germany Bank are stopping their micropayment system because nobody uses it.
I just suppose some manager's generating work for his bored department.
-- sigs are like parking spaces - all the good ones are occupied