Nathan Myrhvold, a vice president at Microsoft sees
the necessity of ecash this way:

   Right now, we're all street people on the information
   highway; we can't protect our privacy and information;
   we can't prove who we are; we can't buy anything.

     ---excerpt from a November 8th PRNewsire press release

Barring the irony of a corporate executive equating himself
to the homeless, Myrhvold isn't just advocating adding 
tollbooths to his worn-out metaphor.  Buyers want to protect
their goods and services on the internet and keep them from 
those who can't afford them.

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