Shirky's arguments against micropayments

["James Cole" <colej@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

Clay Shirky gives some very compelling arguments against micropayments in
his writings at www.shirky.com.  In particular, in the following two
articles.  The first of these isn't actually about micropayments but gives a
good background to his arguments against them, and I'd recommend reading it
before the second one.

   In Praise of Freeloading [O'Reilly, 12/00]
      Why freeloading in P2P systems is not the problem people think it is.
   http://www.openp2p.com/pub/a/p2p/2000/12/01/shirky_freeloading.html

   The Case Against Micropayments [O'Reilly, 01/01]
      Why Micropayments Won't Work, Ever.
   http://www.openp2p.com/pub/a/p2p/2000/12/19/micropayments.html

I'm interested to know what you guys have to say on this.

Regards,
James.