Finally, there is also a risk of the digital divide widening. Access to the internet and the services it provides, or indeed denial of access may create a divide between the ‘have-nets’ and the have-nots.’ E-money may further increase this divide if companies select e-money as their preferred method of payment. People without access to this source of finance may be discriminated against.

Benefits of E-money
On the positive side, e-money is easy to use, simple and available 24/7. Cost efficiencies can be gained by banks and other financial institutions. Indeed, it may negate the raison d’etre of financial institutions themselves with pure b2b transactions becoming the norm. E-money may increase confidence in e-commerce.

E-money can increase confidence in e-commerce. The payment system can be safe and secure. Most e-transactions are paid for by credit cards. The benefits are obvious. The credit card company will act as an insurer if a fraud is committed and payments are due typically 56 days after purchase. However, there are limits to credit cards. Firstly, credit cards are only available to over 18 year olds. Secondly, credit cards are normally only given to people with a good credit history. Thirdly, interest rates on such cards are prohibitive.英语论文网 【http://www.51lunwen.org】 Fourthly, credit card companies charge retailers a fee such that small transactions are uneconomic for the e-retailer. Increasingly, many internet and m-commerce transactions involve small cost items such as music downloads, mobile phone ring-tone downloads, car parking vouchers, downloadable games and visitor passes for subscription websites. These transactions are known as micro-payments.
In addition, the use of micro-payment systems, precisely because they are to be used for small scale transactions means that they might not attract the attention of fraudsters, conmen and other cyber-criminals.

Types of E-money

Credit and debit cards

Details are transmitted over the internet or by e-mail. Security may be an issue, although familiarity means that it is a popular method of transferring worth [or debt] from one person to another. Certain advanced systems like Amazon’s 1 click will retain the credit card details thereby minimising the risk of inadvertent or malicious interception of the credit card details since they will only be transferred once in the initial transaction. This type of system is secure but creates data protection concerns.

Secure Socket Layer Protocol

Is a specialised form of encryption, normally a public key system. The perceived problem is that of trust. The seller may abuse the system to gain credit card details or other sensitive data. See the discussion in Topic 6.

Secure Electronic Transaction [SET] 本文来自：英语论文网 【http://www.51lunwen.org】