Web Payments Telecon Minutes for 2011-09-23

The minutes for yesterday's call are now available here, thanks to Mike
Johnson for scribing:

http://payswarm.com/minutes/2011-09-23/

Full text of the discussion follows, as well as a link to the complete
audio transcript:

Web Payments Community Group Telecon Minutes for 2011-09-23

Agenda:
   http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-webpayments/2011Sep/0004.html
Chair:
   Manu Sporny
Scribe:
   Mike Johnson, Manu Sporny
Present:
   Manu Sporny, Patrick Strateman, Amir Taaki, Mike Johnson,
   Jeff Sayre, David I. Lehn

Topic: Introduction

Manu Sporny is scribing.
Patrick Strateman:  Hi, I'm Patrick Strateman - I'm here on
   behalf of Bitcoin Consultancy
Manu Sporny:  Amir Taaki said that bitcoin folks are interested
   in a URI scheme?
Patrick Strateman:  Bitcoin address is pretty simple right now, a
   way of opening the payment window in the bitcoin client.
Patrick Strateman:  Regular bitcoin addresses are a hash of a
   public key - want to make it simpler.
Amir Taaki:  Our request is here:
   http://privatepaste.com/648ddfd486
permalink to Amir's request:
   http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-webpayments/2011Sep/0004.html
Manu Sporny:  We are looking at bitcoin integration into
   PaySwarm, so we'd be happy to help author that spec or provide
   guidance. Glad to see interest from Bitcoin folks in W3C Web
   Payments / PaySwarm work.
Manu Sporny:  Any updates/changes to agenda?
No changes requested.

Topic: PaySwarm Use Cases Review (continued)

Manu Sporny:  We had reviewed quite a number of use cases last
   time: http://payswarm.com/minutes/2011-09-16/
Manu Sporny:  Let's continue reviewing and accepting use cases -
   next up is content and payment metadata

Topic: Content and Payment Metadata

http://payswarm.com/specs/payswarm-use-cases#content-and-payment-metadata
Manu Sporny:  We are trying to automate the purchase process by
   the browser. The basic requirement is the ability to express
   assets for sale via a Web page as well as listings that describe
   how the asset should be sold (licenses, payment amounts, etc.)
Manu Sporny:  The end-goal is to have the purchase process both
   decentralized and integrated tightly with the Web browser. So, we
   need some sort of meta-data in HTML mechanism to do this. The
   current spec depends on using RDFa 1.1 to accomplish the
   expression of metadata in the page.
Jeff Sayre: +1
Manu Sporny: +1 to support this
Mike Johnson: +1
Patrick Strateman:  +1 - Sounds good
Manu Sporny:  Okay, Content and Payment metadata is accepted as a
   use case.

Topic: Price Negotiation

Mike Johnson is scribing.
Manu Sporny:
   http://payswarm.com/specs/payswarm-use-cases#price-negotiation
Manu Sporny:  Price negotiation allows dynamic pricing and can
   help enforce good market pricing. Was used in the original
   Bitmunk product.
Manu Sporny:  Example of price negotiation. Seller offers data
   for sale at a rate of 10 cents/GB. Buyer asks for 8 cents/GB
   versus 10 cents/GB. Seller can decide if they want to accept the
   lower figure based on if they have any spare bandwidth that is
   not being used.
Manu Sporny:  Lots of work on the client-side to implement.
   Client would be very complex. We want to add support in future,
   push off for now. Suggest that we add to PaySwarm 2.0 use cases.
Mike Johnson:  Agree. Move to PaySwarm 2.0 spec.
Jeff Sayre:  Priceline example. They will want negotiation, so
   it's an important use case - but agree that it's not for now.
Manu Sporny:  Okay, this use case is deferred to PaySwarm 2.0 use
   cases.

Topic: Multicast License Acquisition

Manu Sporny:

http://payswarm.com/specs/payswarm-use-cases#multicast-license-acquisition
Manu Sporny:  Multicast license acquisition. This use case allows
   people to buy a license independently of the data. It effectively
   splits license acquisition from content acquisition.
Manu Sporny:  You must be able to buy a license to something from
   one location, but get the content from another location.
Manu Sporny:  Data stream example - I buy access to a movie from
   the movie studio, but have a local content distribution network
   provide the data stream for me because it's faster.
Manu Sporny:  Third point, enabling this via multicast, is
   unclear. The technology is not well defined yet for IPv6
   multicast / MBONE content. Or how this works with Content-Centric
   Networking.
Manu Sporny:  I suggest we drop the last bullet point. Push
   multicast data aquisition off from PaySwarm 1.0
Patrick Strateman:  Agrees splitting license from content is a
   good idea.
Patrick Strateman:  Multicast may be too specific at this point.
Manu agrees.
Jeff Sayre:  Makes sense. CDN (content delivery networks) could
   use this mechanism. MicroCDNs would find benefit in this.
Manu Sporny:  Multicast means technical multicasting. But this is
   too specific - we may not want to say anything about what
   protocols are used to deliver the content.
Manu Sporny:  We keep going back to Netflix as an example.
   Someone could purchase access to content from Sony Pictures, but
   choose their download source as Netflix.
Mike Johnson:  I was going to agree - we did build this into
   bitmunk - the idea of splitting license from content doesn't
   happen w/ physical goods, but it is possible with digital goods.
   [scribe assist by Manu Sporny]
Mike Johnson:  Buying a license from Best Buy and downloading
   from Netflix could be an option. [scribe assist by Manu Sporny]
General agreement to accept first two "Requirements" bullet
   points for this use case, but reject the third one. The use case
   should be rewritten to make a bit more sense w/o the third
   requirement bullet point.

Topic: Licensing Access to Extra Content

Manu Sporny:

http://payswarm.com/specs/payswarm-use-cases#licensing-access-to-extra-content
Manu Sporny:  This use case covers the need for a verifiable
   digital receipt of sale. A digital receipt allows one to access
   value-added content from other sites.
Manu Sporny:  Purchasing content via PaySwarm gives you digital
   receipt today, so we support this use case now.
Manu Sporny:  Indie band example - you buy their digital album
   and have the digital receipt for that. You provide the digital
   receipt to the band's website a year later and get access to
   their latest tour videos and backstage videos. Merely providing
   the receipt gives you exclusive access to value-added content.
Manu Sporny:  The other important bit about the receipt is that
   it can be verified by a third party - which means that digital
   signatures are a requirement.
Mike Johnson:  This is important for consumer protection - proof
   of sale today is almost entirely dependent on the seller
   website... this goes a step further - there is a way to prove
   that the receipt of sale is valid without having to go back to
   the seller. [scribe assist by Manu Sporny]
Jeff Sayre:  I agree, this is important.
Patrick Strateman:  Digital signatures from merchants for
   consumer sales is very important.
Manu Sporny:  Ok, then this use case is accepted. [scribe assist
   by Manu Sporny]

Topic: Batching Micropayments

Manu Sporny:
   http://payswarm.com/specs/payswarm-use-cases#batching-micropayments
Manu Sporny:  This example explores a photography album that
   somebody puts together and sells. They want some amount to go to
   them and the rest to go to charities. Payments are split among
   the creator and charities that the creator has specified - could
   be 10, could be 100 different charities.
Manu Sporny:  Other example, multiple artists working together on
   same content. Online comic artists creating a single book.
Manu Sporny:  There could be 20-40 people participating - product
   put out as complete book.
Manu Sporny:  Royalty splits are automatically handled.
   Micropayments (royalties) are split to each author.
Manu Sporny:  Requirments of this use case are to specify
   arbitrary payment accounts. It could be a large number of payment
   accounts. No limits (10,000 people should be possible).
Jeff Sayre:  Integral to my Smartup - PubPie. I want to treat
   customers as 1st order payees.
Jeff Sayre:  I don't like the current Google split payment
   mechanism. A strong feature of PaySwarm is the ability to list
   multiple people.
Jeff Sayre:  Great from a collaborator and service provider
   standpoint. It removes extra accounting - all payments are
   direct.
Jeff Sayre:  Collaborators recognized as primaries, paid
   directly, not through a middle man - that's good.
Patrick Strateman:  Micropayments are good - Bitcoin's minimum is
   6.5 cents.
Manu Sporny:  PaySwarm's minimum is 1/100,000 of a cent.
Manu Sporny:  You obviously don't want to do USD/Bitcoin
   transactions that are that small - but it becomes important for
   currencies with large value units - such as gold or platinum. We
   think that precision is good enough for all currencies in the
   world today.
Manu Sporny:  Credit cards have a minimum transaction amount that
   is much larger. PayPal is much larger.
Manu Sporny:  Going back to Jeff's example - PaySwarm treats
   everyone as first class citizen when it comes to payment.
Batching micropayments use case is accepted.

Topic: Customized Application Stores

Manu Sporny:

http://payswarm.com/specs/payswarm-use-cases#customized-application-stores
Manu Sporny:  Example came about because of App stores (Google,
   Apple, Verizon, Microsoft, etc)
Manu Sporny:  Wait, I'm wrong - that's not this use case. This
   use case is actually about embedding a digital contract in a
   binary data stream - watermarking or DRM.
Manu Sporny:  Buying software will personalize purchases and
   assign those to you directly.
Manu Sporny:  This requirement came from the music industry use
   cases a few years ago. Watermarking purchases (music files),
   receipt embedded in file. Important to prevent people from
   uploading the content to a P2P network.
Manu Sporny:  This use case was originally vital for Bitmunk...
   not sure if it is vital for PaySwarm.
Manu Sporny:  I would prefer to keep it out for now.
Manu Sporny:  Jeff, do you have a use case for watermarking
   books?
Jeff Sayre:  My company is opposed to DRM watermarking.
Jeff Sayre:  Let's not support DRM or watermarking initially.
Jeff Sayre:  DRM does not protect or increase sales - studies
   have shown that.
Manu Sporny:  Reason we had watermarks was so buyer could prove
   purchase.
Manu Sporny:  Ties to digital receipt examples earlier - we embed
   the digital receipt in the file so the person can prove ownership
   by just providing the file. However, it is very complex to
   implement.
Manu Sporny:  Difficult to keep the watermarking binary up to
   date, it has to be a closed-source module or it won't work,
   keeping all of the clients in sync is very difficult as well.
Jeff Sayre:  Physical objects are often not regisitered that way
   - there is no ownership with the item. Some small examples of
   registered items. Example of books in personal library.
Mike Johnson:  The whole watermarking thing was done to try to
   appease the music industry 6-7 years ago - not a feature we need
   because the buyer still has access to the digital receipt via the
   PaySwarm Authority. [scribe assist by Manu Sporny]
Mike Johnson:  It's complex to implement and we don't need it
   right now. [scribe assist by Manu Sporny]
Manu Sporny:  Jeff's example of physical goods not having a
   digital receipt of ownership is a good example. In the future
   people might buy a blueprint of an item to manufature.
Manu Sporny:  3d printers will happen. People will be able to
   manufacture at home or locally.
Manu Sporny:  Schematics might be modified to add a watermark
   onto the object when it is printed.
Manu Sporny:  Example of printing out a knife with physically
   watermarked ownership information used in a crime. It's a use
   case that's a bit out there - but one that has philosophical
   implications. Should physical objects have owners?
Jeff Sayre:  You can't practically rewatermark a physical object.
Manu Sporny:  In the digital file case, when you resell, the
   software strips the old watermark and generates a new one.
Manu Sporny:  RFIDs could be used as programmable watermarks.
   Although, that is more of a digital watermark example. That way,
   you could have printed objects have temporary ownership - such as
   "This frisbee belongs to Jeff Sayre".
Watermarking use case is out. We probably won't save use case as
   nobody really likes it.

Topic: Steven Rowat Use Cases Review

Manu Sporny:
   http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-tag/2009Sep/0055.html
Manu Sporny:  Most of Steven's use cases have to do with how the
   license metadata is expressed in the asset or the listing. Usage
   of RDFa addresses most of these use cases - we can tweak what a
   license allows by changing a few RDFa statements. Should PaySwarm
   support these use cases too?
Manu Sporny:  Most of these use cases seem to be immediately
   supportable with minor changes to the way the current
   specification works. We won't have time to go through all of
   these use cases today, but let's look at the first one.

Topic: Limiting Commercial Redistribution

Manu Sporny: An independent medical researcher in the USA who
   produces a pdf report about side-effects of a new prescription
   drug.
Manu Sporny:  First example has no resale limitation, however the
   license that it's available under is a simple Creative Commons
   attribution, no-derivatives license... maybe just a
   no-derivatives license?
Manu Sporny:  This barely says anything about payments, but we
   can read into it a bit.
Manu Sporny:  PaySwarm would allow us to do non-downstream sales
   if we specify that limitation in the listing.
Manu Sporny:  Jeff, does this use case seem useful to PubPie?
Jeff Sayre:  Yes. It's up to collaborative teams, but PubPie will
   allow a lot of flexibility and variety - this use case fits.
Manu Sporny: We already have a vocabulary in the works for
   specifying digital contacts here - http://purl.org/payswarm
Manu Sporny:  and we already have a limitation where you can
   state that you do not want to allow any additional payees...
Manu Sporny:
   http://payswarm.com/vocabs/payswarm#NoAdditionalPayees
Jeff Sayre:  That's not the same as being external data provider.
Manu Sporny: That's true, but maybe we can build off of this:
Manu Sporny: http://payswarm.com/vocabs/commerce#limitation
Manu Sporny:  This use case would be if people don't want
   external data providers - we'd have to add something like
   ps:NoRedistribution.
Jeff Sayre:  We also want to allow sales through other networks
   (Amazon, iTunes)
Manu Sporny:  Commerce vocabulary allows specifying limitations.
Manu Sporny:  People could redistribute but not add extra payees,
   but that doesn't quite address this use case.
Manu Sporny:  We could add a limitation to only allow download of
   content from one data provider to support this use case.
Mike Johnson:  This is a left-over from pre-digital sales era -
   it's an old mentality - "I need to control my data". [scribe
   assist by Manu Sporny]
Mike Johnson:  but it's still important for us to provide this
   functionality - some people want to drive people to their site -
   these are all things that are important - we need to be able to
   limit who the data provider is. [scribe assist by Manu Sporny]
Manu Sporny:  We're out of time for this call. Let's have another
   call next week to go through rest of Steven's use cases.
Manu Sporny:  One thing that is not on the list is alternative
   currencies (Bitcoin) - we need a use case for that.
Patrick Strateman:  Very pro alternative currencies.
Patrick Strateman:  There is a caveat in Bitcoin in that there is
   a delay in the Bitcoin payment process - funds aren't available
   immediately.
Manu Sporny:  PaySwarm has concept of escrow, where we may not
   push the contract through without verification of payment.
Manu Sporny:  It is possible to add to spec, but either way we
   want to support alternative currencies.
Manu Sporny:  We may not go as far as supporting automatic
   currency exhange, as that is complex, but adding support for one
   may allow us to support all currencies.
Manu Sporny:  Supporting currency accounts may allow us to
   sidestep exchanges. If you have an account with a certain amount
   of money in it - great - it works.
Jeff Sayre:  I agree with the need for alternative currency
   support. More currencies allows more exchanges, complex but
   healthy for the economy.
David I. Lehn: I agree - we should support alternative
   currencies.
Manu Sporny:  Ok, we should add a use case for that.


-- manu

-- 
Manu Sporny (skype: msporny, twitter: manusporny)
President/CEO - Digital Bazaar, Inc.
blog: PaySwarm Developer Tools and Demo Released
http://digitalbazaar.com/2011/05/05/payswarm-sandbox/

Received on Friday, 23 September 2011 18:54:36 UTC