ELECTRONIC CHARGING MECHANISMS FOR INFORMATION

摘要

Massachusetts-based Wave Systems Corporation is developing what is intended to be an industry-wide method to give information providers an encryption system and a means of charging/billing for individual data purchased. The Wave system is a mixture of hardware- and software-based approaches, central to which is a microprocessor fitted to the customer's computer. Before looking at some of the detail, let us listen to some of the rationale for the system, as Wave sees it: Information providers serving high-volume users in professional markets generally sell their information via CDROMs with expensive annual subscriptions, where the consumer must buy all the information, even if only some of it is needed. They lack a cost-effective way to sell in smaller quantities and at lower prices. As a result, only large and expensive packages are sold, only the professional users are served and true market demand goes unsatisfied.