Payment Standard? Re: E-Commerce Interoperability Standard

Hi Mountie,

May I continue providing some feedback on this topic?

Firstly, I wouldn't call it an e-commerce standard because it only deals
with payments.  To me it looks as a web-based payment standard.

Your proposal is similar to 3D Secure with one difference; in 3D
secure the "Identity Provider" is actually a card issuer which does
not vouch for your identity but that actually are the legitimate user
(card holder) of the presented card.  IMO, this is a very good concept
because it permits all sort of [useful] tricks such as one-time PANs
and anonymising the customer (from the merchant only NB).

IMO, a new payment standard should:

1. Put us on a path where card numbers have no use unless augmented
   by a fresh card-related signature.  That you can do purchases based
   on clear-text information on cards is a relic from the 70'ties.

2. Make it possible to do payments as convenient as in a shop but
   without using solutions (you know which...) where a
   "Password in the Cloud" is all it takes.

3. Offer some kind of query system so that merchant can "advertize" its
   payments options and the user can select (preferably locally) which
   compatible payment resource to use.  Addressing the "NASCAR" phenomena.

In the EU and probably in many other places as well, there are literally
hundreds of local 3D-like schemes where you are directed to your bank
during checkout and perform a direct payment operation.  This is a way
to keep transaction costs down since there is no third party involved.

I consider my non-accepted proposal to WebCrypto as a realistic way of
achieving these qualities.  What I haven't done is specifying the exact
protocols because that's indeed a payment standard. My suggestion has
a much wider usage than that.  I don't believe (FWIW) that the "Market"
will bother with new payment standards until the web platforms become better.
Well, for BitCoins maybe but that's IMO pretty far from mainstream.

Could that be BitCoin's forte? Secure AND convenient payments, leaving
the legacy payment world in the dust.  Unfortunately, I believe the
convenience with the "Password in the Cloud" will win which is why
I concentrate on developing technology that can enhance the payment
market by allowing a more distributed payment model while still keeping
the precious core qualities intact!

Something like SMS which wasn't designed for payments but since it
was/is a good, generically useful technology it also became an important
payment system.  We can call it a bottom-up design :-)

kr
Anders Rundgren

Received on Tuesday, 22 October 2013 05:40:24 UTC