The NetCheque® payment system is an electronic payment system for the
Internet developed by Clifford
Neuman and Ari Medvinsky at the Information
Sciences Institute of the University
of Southern California. At present the implementation is a
research prototype and is available for licensing by companies
implementing commercial payment service. It is not presently
supported as consumer product or service. Small companies and
individuals looking for a way to accept payment on the web may find
the tutorial material on this site useful, but until the NetCheque
system is offered as a commercial service, it is not an option
available for their use. Direct questions and requests to NetCheque@isi.edu.
Users registered with NetCheque accounting servers
are able to write electronic checks to other
users. These checks may be sent through e-mail or as payment for
services provided through other network protocols. When deposited,
the check authorizes the transfer of account balances from the account
against which the check was drawn to the account to which the check
was deposited.
The strengths of the NetCheque system are its security, reliability,
scalability, and efficiency. Signatures on checks are authenticated
using Kerberos.
Reliability and scalability are provided by using multiple accounting
servers. The NetCheque system is well suited for clearing micropayments; its use
of conventional cryptography makes it more efficient than systems
based on public key cryptography. The NetCheque system will enable
creation of new Internet services that charge small fees, on the order
of pennies, for access to information, processing queries, and
consumption of resources. Such services are a critical component of
electronic commerce.
Anonymous Network Payment using NetCash
Payments using the NetCheque payment system originate from named user
accounts. ISI has also developed a research prototype for
an electronic currency system
called NetCash
supporting anonymous payments. NetCash will use the NetCheque system
to clear payments between currency servers.
Transaction Support for Web Purchases through PPV
Pay Per View (PPV) is a
transaction handling protocol for use on the World Wide Web (WWW)
developed in 1995 as part of the NetCash and NetCheque payment
systems. Using PPV, merchant WWW servers make certain documents
available on a pay-per-view basis. PPV is built on top of ARDP and
HTTP for transport, and the software developed for PPV accepts both
NetCheque and NetCash payments.
The NetCheque® name is a registered service mark of the Universty of
Southern California. The NetCheque logo is a
service mark of the Univeristy of
Southern California and
is Copyright ©1995 by the University of Southern California.
NetCheque was Developed by USC/ISI's GOST Group