Online "Smart Accounts" That Can Reproduce and Inherit: For Artists, Fundraisers, and Others

by John S. James

Summary: An accidental invention for selling online newsletters could help artists and service organizations raise money.

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Summary

Exploring better ways to sell online newsletters to organizations led me to a design that could have wide use in electronic commerce, and benefit artists and fundraisers. For example, a donor could buy any number of prepaid free downloads of an artist's digital work (music, image, video, animation, database access, or other) and easily share them as gifts, by distributing a "smart Web link" through social networks worldwide. Anyone who gets any copy of the link could download a free copy of the art if one is available (immediately paying the artist, by the act of free downloading itself) -- or donate to instantly recharge all copies of the link around the world, paying by credit card, PayPal, or other standard means. And this system will work even if the various donors and free users speak many different languages and have no language in common.

The basic idea, which may be fundamentally new, is that online financial accounts could reproduce "children" accounts as their owner directs, with children inheriting money, services, and options from the parent. The children can also reproduce, through any number of generations. I want to start a public discussion of the many unexpected uses and benefits of such a system. You could help by bringing this work to the attention of persons who may be interested.

Other Examples

• Nonprofit or other organizations could quickly set up fundraising contests and games between multiplayer teams online, letting people locally or worldwide mobilize major donors to win for a good cause. These competitions will create new occasions to ask for money, with timelines -- like walkathon-type events but with no overhead for mass walking, etc., instead focusing energy directly on getting large donations. Every penny given online will automatically be accounted for, and instantly show up on a public Web page if desired.
• Artists even in poor regions with no computer access will be able to market through social networks worldwide with no upfront expense -- if given minimal commercial or non-commercial assistance with recording and uploading their work, and notifying groups likely to be interested. As long as a work of art has a constituency, the Web links that deliver it can propagate indefinitely, gaining new donations and delivering free copies accordingly. At least 99% of downloads could be free, if donors purchase an average of at least 100 copies (either as gifts for their own social networks, or made public for anyone interested). This is feasible as prices can be low, for example 50 cents a download (or even much less) -- so a donation of 100 copies might be $40 with quantity discount. Almost all the money will go to the artist -- delivered to the artist's account as the donated downloads are used, creating favorable psychology in several ways.
• Individuals will be able to use the same system to charge for receipt of email sent to a special address -- perhaps a penny per email from strangers to stop most spam, a dollar or more to receive donations for a cause, or any amount offered to an expert as a bid for grassroots, spot consulting.
• For many other potential uses see our Web site below.

Accounts that can reproduce and inherit could gracefully manage hundreds of different, compatible services, with money available between them at near-zero transaction cost -- a new platform for distributing digital services. Accounts will be born ready to use, with most or all of the needed options already set, but owners can make further changes that will be inherited -- creating family trees that evolve in community use. Many automatic transactions will happen without human attention or awareness. New hassle-free security options become possible when accounts can easily be created, irrevocably restricted, or destroyed, either individually or en masse.

I have no proprietary claim for the smart-account design, and want it to be available for general use without "rights" hassles. A better world needs more opportunities for right livelihood. This tool (so far only a design) may seem too good to be true, and perhaps it is. But I developed software in a previous career and have worked on smart accounts for two years now, without finding a serious problem.

For more information, see www.RepliCounts.org

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