> gift cards ... accountability built into the technology It depends on what you mean with that «accountability built into the technology». Related case, as y

> gift cards ... accountability built into the technology It depends on what you mean with that «accountability built into the technology». Related case, as you are also speaking of cards: this friend of mine wanted to buy a foreign book (less available in bookstores, where you pay cash). So he purchased an anonymous pre-paid credit card. He found out that during the mess of the past three years, somebody has made it very difficult to keep those cards anonymous: they now request a telephone number to activate them, and in regions where, "coincidentally", telephone numbers are to be associated to legal identities. Now: as you should know, you can bet your life that if our transactions were recorded, we would strictly avoid commerce. (Just like, pretty similarly, we would strictly avoid a non anonymous Internet.) So: your call for accountability should work within the boundaries of what is acceptable. > too idealistic Don't worry, we grow up, and some of us restrain production - exactly in the awareness of what may happen.