Subject: NEWS: Clickshare(sm) alpha up; "test drives" available From: "Newshare Corp." Date: Mon, 23 Oct 1995 15:06:03 -0400 (EDT)
How the Web Was Won
Subject: NEWS: Clickshare(sm) alpha up; "test drives" available From: "Newshare Corp." Date: Mon, 23 Oct 1995 15:06:03 -0400 (EDT)
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CLICKSHARE UNIVERSAL-ID, PROFILING AND MICRO-TRANSACTION 
SYSTEM ENTERS ALPHA; PERSONALIZED "TEST DRIVES" BEGIN 
 
     WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Oct. 23 -- Newshare Corp. begins shipping
to selected publishers this week the alpha version of its breakthrough 
Clickshare(SM) system to track and settle Internet-wide micro-
transactions.
 
     "Clickshare removes one of the biggest barriers to the 
evolution of the Internet by giving users universal-ID access 
to a free market for digital information," said Bill Densmore, 
Newshare president and cofounder. "Yet the information -- and 
the user relationship -- remain physically controlled by the 
publisher."
 
     Clickshare's personal Newshare(sm) topic-profiling and 
custom-linking facilities are open for public use at 
. Transaction-handling 
capabilities, and an initial base of Publishing Members, will 
be launched in early 1996.
 
     "At that point, publishers will be able to sell each others'
information for as little as a dime per click, exchanging royalties and
commissions seamlessly," added Densmore. "Internet Service 
Providers will be able to act as on ramps into this content universe as 
well."
 
     Clickshare requires no special software for consumers 
beyond their Web browser and costs a publisher as little as 
$795 to join. Publishers can sell information by subscription 
or per-query to their own users, and set all pricing. Newshare 
is now soliciting a broader group of "beta" publishers.

     "Publishers thinking toward the next century want to maintain a 
close relationship with their users," says David M. Oliver, Newshare's 
managing director-technology and principal Clickshare author. "And this 
implies registering them, profiling their interests and preferences, 
authenticating and verifying their use of resources, and billing them for 
charged items. Clickshare does this for publishers and for users in 
background, not in-your-face."

WHAT IS CLICKSHARE(sm)?
 
     Clickshare is a complete, distributed, user-management 
system which provides the only true third-party validation of 
web usage. It differentiates "eyeballs" rather than just 
counting them. It protects personal privacy and the 
publisher/subscriber relationship.
 
     Clickshare(SM) permits consumers to access information on multiple,
unrelated Internet Web servers with a single ID and password.  It gives
publishers revenues not only from their own information but from the
information their users buy elsewhere. And it gives advertisers the best
way to measure web traffic by specific user. 
 
     "Clickshare's versatile architecture is core technology for 
a worldwide free market for digital communications -- a true 
information exchange," said Densmore. 

	Newshare Corp., is based in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, a 
region which has spawned several multimedia startups because of 
its high quality-of-life, accessibility to New York and Boston and good 
talent pool. Formed in September, 1994, it is privately held. 
     
HOW IT WORKS
  
     Clickshare has two principal components, Oliver says. 
Clickshare-enhanced Web server software runs on publishers' 
computers as a primary piece of controlling software or as an 
adjunct to other UNIX-based server software. It logs user 
registration, authentication, personalization and micro-
transactions.
 
     The second piece of essential software, the Clickshare 
token-validation service (TVS) server, is run by Newshare Corp. 
or licensees. It creates and validates authentication tokens, 
brokers non-personal user preferences among publishers, and 
maintains "page visit" records from multiple independent sites 
sortable by anonymous user number, page visited and site ID.
 
     "At no time does Clickshare know a user's name or 
demographic profile," says Oliver. "Only the user's home-base 
publisher has this information."
 
     Clickshare has been called a an example of "wise thinking" (Steve
Outing, Editor & Publisher Interactive, Sept. 18, 1995) and "the excelsior
that will allow web businesses to sell information by the page" (WEBster,
Oct. 3, 1995). 
 
     Each user has a single "home base" at a Publishing Member (likely to
be a local or speciality publication with whom they have a continuing
relation). Clickshare users register just once with their home base,
providing credit-card information by phone, fax, mail or secure Internet
connection. At no time do credit-card numbers or other personal
information traverse the Clickshare system. 

     Thereafter, a user begins a Clickshare(sm) session as simply as
logging in to the online world in the first place. The user must enter 
a personal ID and password just once during each session. 
In response, their home Publishing Member provides them a personalized,
updated, jumpoff page of useful links, based on the personal 
topical-interest profile the user provided at initial registration.
 
     As they browse effortlessly to Clickshare-enabled and other sites,
users can be confident that the link between their identity and their
tracks does not go beyond their home Publisher. Clickshare provides
mechanisms to establish charge limits and receive periodic reports of
charges. 
 
     The Clickshare-enhanced Web Server -- which is browser 
independent -- is provided to Member Publishers by Newshare 
Corp. free under license. Newshare's back-end service network 
exchanges data with the Internet servers of Clickshare-enabled 
sites, validating users and tracking all discrete page accesses 
-- chargeable or free -- across every participating site.
 
Clickshare tracks content served to users regardless of the 
location of their "home" Publishing Member. Aggregate micro-
charges, settled monthly or more frequently, allocating 
commissions, royalties and transaction fees, thus form the 
basis of a system resembling an ATM network. 
 
     Clickshare leaves to each Publishing Member the marketing 
contours of its relationship to its customers. Each Publishing 
Member is thus free to use its own model for user subscription 
or per-page rates. 
 
     A portion of all fees accumulated by a user for all 
visited Clickshare-enabled sites is retained by the user's home 
Publishing Member. This is termed a "referral commission." And Newshare 
retains a portion for its role in tracking and clearing transactions. At 
least 50 percent of each transaction goes to the content owner as a royalty.

MORE THAN IP NUMBERS

     Beyond the model of payment for access to information, 
because it tracks known users (rather than Internet Protocol 
(IP) numbers), Clickshare may also serve as a third-party 
circulation/viewership auditing mechanism for the advertising 
and publishing industry, while leaving to users control of 
release of demographic and other data, and respecting their 
desires for privacy.
     
    "This transparent and efficient mechanism makes it economically
practical to bill information purchases of as little as a dime and
possibly less," says Oliver. "Thus Clickshare provides the platform on
which the consumer of the 21st century can freely and conveniently access
independently owned information worldwide, paying through existing credit
structures." 
 
     For more news and information, send email to info(at)newshare.com or 
see: http://www.newshare.com/clickshare/
 
	"Clickshare" and "Newshare" are registered servicemarks of 
Newshare Corp.
 
     For media information contact: Felix Kramer, Kramer 
Communications, (212) 866-4864 (felix@newshare.com); all other queries 
to: Bill Densmore or Lynn Duncan at Newshare Corp., (413) 458-8001 
(mail@newshare.com).





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