Mozilla Introduces Experimental Open Payment System For Firefox OS

hypnosec writes "Mozilla has developed an open payment service API to support app purchases in Firefox OS, and has released a draft version allowing app developers to process payments. Pointing out the drawbacks of the different models for payments on the web that are currently available, Mozilla has revealed that it is looking to introduce a common web API that would make payments through web devices easier and more secure while being flexible and retaining today's checkout button features that are available for merchants. Partly based on Google Wallet, Mozilla's WebPayment API will remain open to ensure that it is used by a wide range of payment service providers. As a first step towards this, Mozilla has introduced the navigator.mozPay function, allowing web apps to accept payments."

Comments

Web Payments not just Mozilla initiative

[msporny]

Hi, I'm the chair of the Web Payments group at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Just pointing out that the Mozilla mozPay() API is part of a greater push in the standards community to make payments a core part of the Webs architecture. This includes buying/selling digital goods, donations, crowd-funding, all the way to equity and loan-based crowd-financing for start-ups. Note that the mozPay() API is centralized, which even folks at Mozilla will tell you is not ideal. The eventual goal is to create a decentralized payment architecture that is designed for the Web from day one. We plan to put these advanced financial tools into the hands of all Web developers so that anyone with a website or blog has access to this open financial network.

You can read more about the PaySwarm standardization work here, which is mentioned at the end of the Mozilla mozPay() blog post: https://payswarm.com/

The first commercial implementation of these specifications launched three days ago: http://blog.meritora.com/launch/

If you're interested in following what's going on, join the Web Payments group at W3C: http://www.w3.org/community/webpayments/

Re:Web Payments not just Mozilla initiative

[Anonymous Coward]

HOLY CRAP! a talking chair!

Just because the wallet is near you when people sit on you. Does not make you entitled to any of the money.

Re:Web Payments not just Mozilla initiative

[msporny]

The mozPay() API is built so that Mozilla has a whitelist of organizations that are allowed to be vendors. You have to get permission from Mozilla to get on that list, and that's not very Webby. That said, Mozilla will be the first to admit that this isn't ideal and that they want to move toward a more decentralized solution. They designed it this way because decentralized payments is a really hard problem and they didn't have time to solve it and launch FirefoxOS at the same time. Luckily, we (Digital Bazaar and other folks at the W3C) have been working on decentralized payments for years and have a working solution that we're coordinating with Mozilla on trying to find a way to get it integrated with the mozPay() API.

Re:Javascript apps and payment

[nametaken]

Presumably your postback handlers at the server aren't going to validate a payment for [zero dollars as converted from the price point arg].

In any case, no payment schema allows the client to change the price without screwing up a signed request or failing validation at the server... this was considered somehow.

Re:Needs broad multistakeholder standardization

[msporny]

We are building the technology out in the open, transparently. Anyone can join the group. There are no fees, there are no prerequisites for joining. You can read the minutes from every one of the design meetings, and even listen to the audio here (we record everything): http://payswarm.com/minutes/

Here's an example of one such meeting: https://payswarm.com/minutes/2012-07-10/

Why design the financial system in this way? We need to show people that, unlike the way our current financial system is developed and run (behind closed doors), that we're taking a radically new approach to building the basis of the financial network that we hope all of humanity will use. This financial network is open and decentralized, like the Web.

If this interests you, I urge you to join and lurk (or preferably, participate): http://www.w3.org/community/webpayments/