Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Why Stephen King is cool

Author:Paul Snively
Posted:7/25/2000; 1:38:47 PM
Topic:Why Stephen King is cool
Msg #:19057 (In response to 19055)
Prev/Next:19056 / 19058

Dennis Peterson: Hmmm...if you don't want a middleman, are you suggesting that Stephen King set up his own merchant accounts and online commerce server? If not, someone is going to be a middleman, whether it's Amazon, Cybercash, PayPal, whatever. Somebody with infrastructure has to handle the transactions.

One of the benefits to an actual micropayment system, e.g. Millicent, would conceivably be the ease with which digital transactions could be reflected directly in Mr. King's bank account, meaning, among other things, that it might not take much infrastructure to handle the transactions because each individual transaction is highly liquid, in and out of the cyber infrastructure and into the bank's infrastructure in milliseconds, and in any case--and here's the key point--it wouldn't require a Faustian bargain in which an entity with infrastructure, but not infrastructure that can handle the transactions without taking a loss in doing so, has to step up to the plate, which can only mean that there are ulterior motives involved.

I don't necessarily think of technology providers as middlemen (if I did, by definition all middleware vendors would be middlemen). In my mind, the key distinction is that any non-trivial technology can be used for good or for ill. Cybercash, PayPal, e-gold, the ISPs that support them--these are all neutral, particularly with respect to the electronic publishing market. Amazon is perhaps the least neutral entity I can think of with respect to the electronic publishing market. Again, not all middlemen are bad; I cited the specific examples of escrow and brokerage services as potentially valid "middleman" entites. I could add "notaries public" to the list, among others. The question really is, whose interests are vested where? It's hard for me to see King's deal with Amazon in anything other than the most cynical terms, whether Amazon is (for once!) making money on the deal or not.

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