This week I learned about the history of Secure Electronic Transactions (SET).

· Bits and Bobs 4/27/26
  • This week I learned about the history of Secure Electronic Transactions (SET).
    • In the early days of the internet, no one thought consumers would feel comfortable putting their credit card into websites.
      • If you asked users why they weren't buying things online, that's what they reported as being the blocker.
    • So an industry coalition set out to do a proper, deep solution: SET.
    • Then Amazon came out and people went, "Oh I can buy whatever book I want on here? Here's my credit card!"
    • The limiting factor was not the purported strength of the technical solution but the amount of demand.[j]
    • If the demand is strong enough, then even a hacky solution is good enough.
    • Another example of a SOAP being beaten by a REST.

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