Re: [ga] Proof of Identification

["William X. Walsh" <william@dso.net>]

On 07-Dec-99 Harald Tveit Alvestrand wrote:
> At 13:26 06.12.99 -0800, William X. Walsh wrote:
> 
>>On 06-Dec-99 Mark C. Langston wrote:
>> > Perhaps if we were to require a nominal, even nonsensical fee,
>> > which must be submitted by personal check (or local equivalent).
>> > I write out a check for US$1.00, sign it, write my e-mail address
>> > on it, and mail it off.  This would allow us to use another agency's
>> > normal function as an identity validation, and while it wouldn't
>> > eliminate multiple-personality types, it would make their
>> > participation significantly more difficult.
>>
>>That works fine for most countries, but not for all.  Many have strange
>>banking laws (including India) that could make this difficult,
>>expensive,
>>or impossible for some.
> 
> The fee for cashing an US check in a Norwegian bank is around USD 8.
> I've got no reason to believe the fee in the other direction is smaller.
> 

You clearly have no experience dealing with commerce from many other
countries.  And your expense at cashing it isn't the expense I was
discussing.  It was the expense in some countries to even GET a check in
US dollars.  Some countries have banking laws that make it difficult
and/or expensive to send currency to foreign countries.  Perhaps if you
don't have much experience in this are, you should refrain from making
comment.

--
William X. Walsh - DSo Internet Services
Email: william@dso.net  Fax:(209) 671-7934