New, patent-pending technology created by a local software developer may provide an answer to two nagging problems – reducing or eliminating the presence of spam in your email in-box, Internet forums and other Internet-related applications, and allowing consumers to purchase items on the Internet efficiently – and with greatly increased security.
Too good to be true, you say?
Daryl Moore, owner of Hazen Hills Software in Astoria and creator of the recently founded Gidah, Inc., thinks otherwise.
Moore recently filed patents for a Web-based technology that was borne out of his frustration with e-mail spam, but inadvertently solved other technology issues.
"I was sick and tired of spam and wanted to solve the problem," said Moore. "What I realized was that spam wasn’t a technological problem, but rather an economic problem because spam is an extremely affordable advertising means," Moore said.
Currently, when spammers send emails, the receiver has to deal with "junk" messages in a message inbox. The time required to process these unwanted emails has become a productivity problem for businesses.
Moore said his new technology, which changes that dynamic, puts the onus on the spam sender to make a commitment to compensate e-mail message receivers if they don’t find anything of value or importance in the spam message. The amount of compensation is "announced" up front through an electronic token that is attached to the email.
"The Gidah system establishes a monetary value to the email message – a sort of guarantee that the information won’t be a waste of the reader’s time. The more value assigned to the token, the more likely it is to get to your e-mail inbox," Moore said.
Moore thinks this technology will be valuable to advertisers, who may see a benefit to compensating viewers who actually read the information that is in their e-mail advertisement.
Gidah also solved another technology problem.
As Moore got further into the capabilities of the program, he realized the system of embedding money-based tokens in an email lent itself well to Internet-based micro payments — payments too small to be affordably processed by credit card or other electronic transaction processing mechanism.
"There have been several efforts to create micro payment software in the past that have failed," he said. "The reason they failed was that individuals acquiring low value items are not willing to do a lot of work. No one wants to fill out eight lines of text, including private credit card numbers, for a 25 cent item. Gidah is extremely simple."
The Gidah technology allows members to advance money into their Gidah account much like a prepaid phone card. Members then trade tokens for items from any Gidah-based retail or service provider’s Web site on the Internet – regardless of the price, and without the need to provide credit card information over and over again.
"Because these tokens are created through a third-party — Gidah.com, your personal information is protected," Moore said. "With the high incidence of identity theft today, protecting your personal information is essential."
Moore envisions the technology working for Web-based media. The token system allows print media Web sites to charge a fee-per-article or period of time. Readers seeking the information offer a token worth the amount desired and transfer it to the account of the information provider with very little effort required.
Gidah provides additional features, including the ability to "lock" tokens and set expiration dates on them – a feature Moore expects will work well for auction Web sites, as well as some Internet advertising campaigns.
Moore said that while it may take three to five years to receive a patent, the technology is protected from infringement beginning with the recent filing date. It is currently in the final rounds of performance testing. The final version is scheduled for release in April.
Moore has a few clients lined up for its use. A local online retailer will be incorporating the program as its online payment processing method.
"In general this technology will have the most benefit to businesses that already have a following, such as on-line newspapers or blog-sites," Moore said.
"And," he added. "As they incorporate it, they’ll help educate end-users."
For more information on the program, call Daryl Moore at (503) 764-4405 or email him at darylm@gidah.com. Visit wiki.gidah.com for an in-depth description of the program. A "practice" site for users is also available by visiting sandbox.gidah.com.