The micropayment system premiered on our market a few years ago. The company eCard SA encouraged its use. One could make micropayments for goods and services, such as music files or newspaper articles. The advantage of the system is that the micropayer has the ability to pay a price starting from as little as one grosz.
A way to beat the hacker
At the same time, the micropayer can be calm about the state of their savings. Making a micro-transfer cannot result in some talented hacker, devoid of moral scruples, brazenly wiping out our bank account. How is this possible? The micropayer registers on the company’s website, where they receive a password entitling them to view the account balance. Then, they set up a special sub-account, to which—via card, transfer, or money order—they deposit just a few dozen zlotys. And it is from this sub-account that they make penny transfers. By possessing a micro-account, you can make purchases with a click in a completely secure manner. Connections to the system are encrypted with 128-bit SSL. You do not need to have payment cards or a bank account. It is enough to top up the micro-account with a chosen amount, and it will be activated—this is how the company eCard advertised itself a few years ago. The company also encouraged websites to join the system—eCard was supposed to be
merely an intermediary: Every website that wants to sell products in the system must install any application that handles sales over the Internet. All online stores can introduce micropayments immediately. To services joining the program, eCard provides free universal software that integrates their sales applications with the system.
Grim predictions
The eCard company also warned that—by resigning from reaching for micropayments—we would soon be deprived of access to a significant part of the web’s treasure trove: The period of free use of Internet content—information services, press articles,
analyses and reports, archives, music and graphic files—is coming to an end. If portals and thematic websites do not find stable sources of funding, they will go bankrupt—prophesied the company’s marketing experts.—Bankruptcy threatens all portals and information services. Even the largest ones, like Yahoo! and AOL, are recording losses.
The article comes from the magazine