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... GLOBAL NEWS ... NEWS CASHLESS SOCIETY JUST AROUND THE CORNER r “Nhe cashless society may have taken a long time coming but when historians look back, 1996 will prove to be the watershed year when the convergence of tech- nologies made it all possible. In the past few months, three important developments have converged: an explosion in electronic banking that has transformed consumer acceptance of new technology; technological developments in 'smart cards' and the acceptance of international stan- dards by the big players; and a surge in acceptance in using the Internet. All three are complex in their own right. Their convergence virtually assures that the cashless society is inevitable—and it may be here sooner than you think. According to the Reserve Bank of Australia, the number of automatic teller machines (ATMs) overtook the number of bank branches for the first time in 1996. The number of bank branches fell from 6,655 branches in 1995 to 6,507 in 1996 and the trend towards fewer branches looks certain to continue, thanks to the coming round of merg- ers and takeovers in the banking sector and the switch to more ATMs by all banks. The number of ATMs increased by 17 per cent over the last year. Another sign of public acceptance of electronic banking is the number of EFTPOS transactions which in the last year surged by 38 per cent to 470 million transactions. The next stage of ATM development, expected as soon as the middle of next year, will see an expansion in what clever machines can do with new technology being devel- oped by NCR. Soon you will be able to buy concert tickets and phone cards, get new cheque books and even electronically speak to tellers—all on an ATM. While people are now becoming increasingly familiar with electronic banking, the next phase of electronic technology that is about to be unleashed will make an even big- ger impact on the way we conduct our finances. Smart-card technology, which enables microchips to be installed on credit-card-like plastic, has enabled stored-value cards to be produced so that people can swipe cards through special machines and make small purchases without cash. Several trials in Australia and many other overseas trials have confirmed their commercial viability and popularity. But last week, a giant leap forward was taken when the UK-based Mondex announced a merger with MasterCard that will cut out rivalry, set international standards for smart cards and speed the introduction of smart-card technology. If, as is widely expected, the Mondex-MasterCard group is joined by Visa, which is the most advanced of the card groups in developing encryption devices that prevent fraud, then electronic commerce through smart cards will be easy and safe to use. But when the trends towards acceptance of electronic banking and of smart cards that enable new types of transactions are added to the third major trend—an explosion in the use of the Internet—then the combination is truly of historic importance. Business is clicking onto the Internet boom. While not many companies have made much money out of it yet, that's not stopping a major push into electronic commerce. Australia's online services alone are now estimated to be a A$140 million industry. New research by McNair Anderson shows that older and richer Australians in the 40- plus age group are ‘surfing the net'—just what companies developing home shopping and electronic home payments are seeking. Advertising, a key to making money on the net for many companies, is also beginning to take shape. A new joint venture between Internet server OzEmail and Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB is an ambitious attempt to develop a massive new advertising market that faces some big challenges; but it appears to be just a question of when, not if. Many critics and cynics have said that the cashless society would be just like the ‘paperless office'—a myth in the minds of technology developers. But this time, the technology developers may well be proved right. (Source: Business News, 28 November-11 December 1996) owned organisation, nof a government body. Also of interest is that one of the very first acts of business by the new President (LBJ) was to repeal this Executive Order. (Source: Free Speech News Wire, fsnw- 1@lists.primenet.com via the Internet) COMMERCIAL SPY SATELLITES OPENING FOR BUSINESS Spy satellite photographs were once the exclusive domain of security agencies, but now they are about to become available to anyone with a credit card. Companies like EarthWatch, scheduled to launch its first commercial spy satellite in April, are now able to offer satellite pho- tos capable of distinguishing objects within a square metre for less than US$1,000. To order a photo, customers need only phone or e-mail the company, giving a map reference and a credit card number. The instructions are transmitted to the satellite which takes the photographs within three days then beams them back to Earth. EarthWatch company officials say the technology will benefit many people including tax officials, who can check on farmers suspected of not declaring earnings from crops; insurance companies looking at homes which are at risk of flooding, with the view to increasing premiums; commod- ity brokers who gamble on future crop prices and want to see how crops growing in various countries are progressing; fish- ing fleets who want to see where fish are gathered; people looking for a house ina remote city or country who can ‘visit’ it without actually going to it; and so on. However, some governments are posi- tively uneasy about this sort of access. Israel is upset that extremist Arab groups will now be able to obtain military-level intelligence value from these satellites; China is upset that its suppression in Tibet will be exposed; and Turkey fears its assaults on the Kurds may also be revealed. Commercial and military intelligence agencies are expected to be the largest pur- chasers of high-resolution images from these probes. The biggest loser is likely to be the US Government, which once used its spy satellites to maintain a huge military advantage over rivals—a superiority used with devastating success in the Gulf War. (Sources: The Guardian Weekly [UK], 4 August 1996; The Sunday Telegraph [Aust.], 9 March 1997) APRIL - MAY 1997 NEXUS <9