t's not the same as printing a million dollars, but used effectively, private money could help you grow your business.
Minting electric money is surprisingly simple. Coupons and vouchers are nothing more than promises to do something in the future. These IOUs have no value unless consumer and merchant both trust the notes. That means customers must be able to verify that the note is
authentic. Merchants must be able to determine that no one counterfeited the coupon. Authentication is relatively easy: Encryption technology, such as the freely distributed PGP, is fast and accurate.
Constructing a simple coupon is straightforward, in part because it's just a block of text endorsed with the company's digital signature. The block contains a description of what the coupon buys you as well as an identifying serial number. Anyone can cut and paste this block of text in a word processor, e-mail editor, or Web form to pass it around.
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1. Perhaps you want to use digital co
upons
to launch a sales promotion. First, set up a server. In most cases, you'll need a 486/66 or better PC or a PowerPC based Macintosh (with 8 MB of RAM and a 500-MB hard drive) and an Internet connection.
2. Publish a public key.
Standard encryption software, such as PGP, will let you do this using easy menu selections.
3. Create coupons.
Encryption software can also help here. A coupon consists of a short text message with essential details, like the issuing company's name, the value of the coupon, and a unique serial number to guard against someone trying to redeem a coupon more than once. If you're using PGP, the coupon will look like this:
4. Sign the coupon with a digital signature,
which can also be automatically generated by encryption software.
5. Issue coupons.
You can do this by sending the coupon file via e-mail to customers that buy a particular product you're promoting or any other criteria you choose. Anyone can trade or exchange the coupon via the Web or e-mail through clipping, cutting, or pasting the text.
6. Consumers verify the coupon's validity
by checking the digital signature of the note. Web servers can also verify that a particular serial number hasn't been redeemed. Consumers redeem a coupon by pasting it into a Web form or mailing ti to an e-mail processor.
7. Redeem the coupon.
Note on the coupon database that this particular serial number is no longer valid and send one free limerick to the consumer.
Peter Wayner is a BYTE consulting editor in Baltimore. You can reach him on the Internet at
pcw@access.digex.net
.
How to Make a Million Dollars
