misc edits based on Neal's comments
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@ -1106,10 +1106,10 @@ usually only happen if the wallet is unaware of a backup operation
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voiding its internal invariants. If a payment fails in-flight due to
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insufficient funds, the wallet can use Taler's refresh protocol to
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obtain a refund for those coins that were not actually double-spent,
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and then explain the user that the balance was inaccurate due to
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inconsistencies from recovery, and overall insufficient for payment.
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and then explain to the user that the balance was inaccurate due to
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inconsistencies, and insufficient for payment.
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For the user, this failure mode appears equivalent to an insufficient
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balance or credit line when paying with cards.
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balance or credit line when paying with debit or credit cards.
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\end{itemize}
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\subsection{Comparison}
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@ -1129,7 +1129,7 @@ With Taler, the authentication itself is straightforward, as the customer is
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at the time visiting the Web portal of the bank, and the authentication is
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with the bank (Figure~\ref{fig:taler-withdraw}). With PayPal, the
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shop redirects the customer to the PayPal portal (step 5 in
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Figure~\ref{fig:paypal}) after the user selected PayPal as the payment
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Figure~\ref{fig:paypal}) after the user selects PayPal as the payment
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method. The customer then provides the proof of payment to the
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merchant. Again, this is reasonably natural. The 3DS workflow
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(Figure~\ref{fig:cc3ds}) has to deal with a multitude of banks and
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@ -1155,11 +1155,11 @@ especially given that the digital wallet is likely to only contain a
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% he has.
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small fraction of the customer's available funds. As a result, Taler
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improves usability if the customer is able to withdraw funds once to
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then facilitate many micropayments, while Taler is likely less usable
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then facilitate many micropayments while Taler is likely less usable
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if for each transaction the customer first visits the bank to withdraw
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funds. This is deliberate, as Taler can only achieve reasonable
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privacy for customers if they do keep a balance in their wallet,
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thereby breaking the association between withdrawal and deposit.
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privacy for customers if they keep a balance in their wallet,
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which breaks the association between withdrawal and deposit.
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% FIXME the sentence above can be in contrast with how the exchange
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% actually deposits funds to merchants, that is through 'aggregate
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% deposits' that may add unpredictable delays (but that doesn't affect
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@ -1168,9 +1168,9 @@ thereby breaking the association between withdrawal and deposit.
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Bitcoin's payment process (Figure~\ref{fig:bitcoin}) resembles that of
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Taler in one interesting point, namely that the wallet is given
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details about the contract the user is to enter (steps 7 to 11).
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However, in contrast to Taler, here the Bitcoin wallet(s) are expected
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to fetch the ``invoice'' from the merchant, while in Taler the browser
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details about the contract the user enters (steps 7 to 11).
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However, in contrast to Taler, Bitcoin wallets are expected
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to fetch the ``invoice'' from the merchant. In Taler, the browser
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provides the Taler wallet with the proposed contract directly. In
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PayPal and 3DS, the user is left without a cryptographically secured
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receipt.
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@ -1186,14 +1186,14 @@ credentials to the legitimate
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auto-completion.} However, relying on users understanding their
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browser's indications of the security context is inherently
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problematic. Taler addresses this challenge by ensuring that digital
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coins are only accessible from fully wallet-generated pages, hence
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coins are only accessible from wallet-generated pages. As such
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there is no risk of Web pages mimicking the look of the respective
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page, as they would still not obtain access to the digital coins.
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Once the payment process nears its completion, merchants need to have
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some assurance that the contract is now valid. In Taler, merchants
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some assurance that the contract is valid. In Taler, merchants
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obtain a non-repudiable confirmation of the payment. With 3DS and
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PayPal, the confirmation may be disputed later (i.e. in case of
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PayPal, the confirmation may be disputed later (e.g. in case of
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fraud), or accounts may be frozen arbitrarily~\cite{diaspora2011}.
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Payments in cash require the merchant to assume the risk of receiving
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counterfeit money.
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@ -1201,7 +1201,7 @@ counterfeit money.
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% about maintaining change and depositing the money earned
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% CG: No, it's not optional, ``should'' doesn't come into the equation
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% here. It's a mandatory business expense.
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Furthermore, merchants have the cost maintaining change and depositing
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Furthermore, merchants have the cost of maintaining change and depositing
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the money earned. With Bitcoin, there is no definitive time until a
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payment can be said to be confirmed (step 19, Figure~\ref{fig:bitcoin}),
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leaving merchants in a bit of a tricky situation.
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@ -1210,7 +1210,7 @@ leaving merchants in a bit of a tricky situation.
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Customers and merchants should be able to easily adapt their existing
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mental models and technical infrastructure to Taler. In contrast,
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Bitcoin's payment models fail to match common expectations, be it in
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Bitcoin's payment models fail to match common expectations be it in
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terms of performance, durability, security, or privacy. Minimizing
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the need to authenticate to pay fundamentally improves usability.
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@ -1227,7 +1227,7 @@ of the Reich of big data corporations.
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We encourage readers to try our prototype for Taler
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at \url{https://demo.taler.net/}, and to ponder why the billion dollar
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e-commerce industry still relies mostly on TLS for security, given
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e-commerce industry still relies mostly on TLS for security given
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that usability, security and privacy can clearly {\em all} be improved
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simultaneously using a modern payment protocol.
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