[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Here's the article in question: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/06/ma...pagewanted=all

Payment rates for his bagels fluctuated over the years, but seem to have been between 85% to 90% overall.

There's a reason why this model isn't necessarily a good fit for ebooks: It has to do with the social impact of physical proximity.

In a closed system, where people see other people enough to be familiar with them, and direct-contact social groups emerge, people are more likely to be honest about self-policed transactions. Part of the reason is that they expect there to be negative repercussions if their social group discovers they are being dishonest. (This is assuming the entire group doesn't decide to be dishonest, in which case, dishonest behavior becomes the accepted norm.)

Those in the "higher levels" of the office structure tended to be less than honest, simply because they believed that their positions insulated them from repercussion.

The internet is more of an open system, where social groups have no direct physical contact, hence no real social repercussions to be feared from bad behavior. In this atmosphere, people can steal with impunity, confident that no harm will come to them, even if others are aware of their actions. This is the atmosphere ebooks find themselves in, so they become a prime target for thievery, dishonesty and unethical behavior.

The only way to police such a situation is to device a security system that depends on the desire of individuals to honor it, because of some fringe benefit it provides... say, reduced taxes or access to some otherwise-unavailable content. (Imagine, in the bagel scenario, taping your business card to the change you left behind, and at the end of the week, getting a free donut delivered to your desk.)

This way, though the system itself may be flawed, individuals will accept the security system, and products like ebooks can be kept secure in the market.