For the World Wide Web to reach its full potential as a medium of human communications, it must become a better conduit for what has proven to be the ultimate form of information. I refer, of course, to money.

Today, Internet-based commerce is in its infancy. While it is possible to lose a great deal of money surfing the Web, the job is far too complex for the average user. Luckily, things are changing. According to predictions that have remained amazingly constant over the past three years, the right to lose money on the Internet will not long remain a privilege of corporations. Here’s an overview of technologies for the surf-and-spend generation:

While you’re at this page, you pull out your wallet (yet another reason not to surf the Web in your underwear). While holding your credit card in one hand, you type in an incorrect number with the other. On the fourth or fifth attempt, you enter the correct number, press the Enter key, remember that pressing the Enter key does no good on most HTML forms, and click the Submit button.

After finishing this initial task, you don’t have to think about the transaction until your credit card bill arrives with a charge for three times the agreed-upon amount. By refusing to pay this overcharge, you become, as promised, a happier person.

An electronic wallet, or e-wall as it is called by absolutely no one, is a program that contains electronic cash, as well as JPEGs of your family, emergency information, and your license to surf. As a concept, e-cash falls somewhere between real cash and money in the bank--your financial institution collects interest on it, but you don’t.

An electronic wallet has several advantages over today’s more common credit card-based systems. For one thing, the wallet instills a sense of confidence by creating the illusion that you’re working with actual money. Second, because wallet transactions are cheaper for banks to process than those done with credit cards, these transactions will result in either lower prices for consumers and stores or--more likely--higher profits for banks. Finally, only hackers who can get between you and your bank’s Web page will be able to clean you out.

Once you’ve signed up, you can return to the original site, knowing that any charges you incur will appear on your next bill. You can also explore the Web, looking for other sites that support the billing standard that you have just signed up for. Don’t worry; you won’t find any.

Such accounts are especially well suited for small purchases--say 25 cents for access to an article or 55 cents for a virtual candy bar. With this system, you can happily click away at micropayments without ever realizing that you’re spending more for online information than for rent.

When you receive your monthly bill, of course, you always have the option of not paying. This is why most companies that offer these accounts have close financial ties to large men with dark suits and darker sunglasses (yet another reason not to answer the doorbell in your underwear).

This person then processes your order, makes sure the items you requested are shipped to your home in a timely manner, and promptly quits his or her job while retaining your credit card number for future reference.

However you spend money on the Internet, you can rest assured that the transactions will be handled by financial professionals at least as honest and devoted to their clientele as Charles Keating.

© Copyright 1998 by Lincoln Spector

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