The Internet That Never Was
Micropayments were a key element in Andreeson’s own original plans for the web, but partly because HTML links are one-way only, the only method available for incorporating this idea into the web’s design would have required active participation by the financial services industry, which turned out to be hopelessly difficult. According to Andreeson, “The credit card systems and banking system made it impossible. We tried hard, but it was so painful to deal with those guys. It was cosmically painful.”
.. In Isaacson’s view of the situation, had the Worldwide Web been based on two-way links instead of one-way links, then today it would be possible “to meter the use of links and allow small automatic payments to accrue to those who produced the content that was used. The entire business of publishing and journalism and blogging would have turned out differently. Producers of digital content could have been compensated in an easy, frictionless manner, permitting a variety of revenue models, including ones that did not depend on being beholden solely to advertisers. Instead the Web became a realm where aggregators could make more money than content producers.”