Whatever happened to the cashless society?
“When I first became involved in the communications industry in the late 1970s, I was convinced that the then new microelectronics revolution would soon eliminate a lot of the need for cash. At that time, it looked as if some kind of electronic card would be the approach.
In the 1980s, there was a trial in Swindon of a card called Mondex which was supposed to promote e-payments. It never happened and most of us still have as many notes in our wallet and coins in our pocket as ever.
Some three decades later, it does now look as if finally e-cash is set to happen big-time. A host of schemes are being launched and a plethora of players are involved and, at this stage, we cannot know which technology and which organisation will come out top.”
This is how I have opened the latest – number 73 – in my long-running series of columns on Internet issues. You can read the rest here.
June 21st, 2012 at 12:16 pm
Roger, do you know whether any of the schemes mentioned in your article offer anonymity and privacy for the user without sacrificing security for the receiver? Such a system would be possible, technically, but one obstacle is that governments will want to ensure that any e-cash system is accessible by tax authorities.
June 21st, 2012 at 4:45 pm
Interesting question, Nick, but I don’t know the answer.