① Given the advantages of electronic money, you might think that we would move quickly to the cashless society in which all payments are made electronically. ____1____, a true cashless society is probably not around the corner. Indeed, predictions have been ____2____ for two decades but have not yet come to fruition. For example, Business Week predicted in 1975 that electronic means of payment would soon “revolutionize the very ____3____ of money itself,” only to ____4____ itself several years later. Why has the movement to a cashless society been so ____5____ in coming?
② Although electronic means of payment may be more efficient than a payments system based on paper, several factors work ____6____ the disappearance of the paper system. First, it is very ____7____ to set up the computer, card reader, and telecommunications networks necessary to make electronic money the ____8____ form of payment. Second, paper checks have the advantage that they ____9____ receipts, something that many consumers are unwilling to ____10____. Third, the use of paper checks gives consumers several days of “float” – it takes several days ____11____ a check is cashed and funds are ____12____ from the issuer’s account, which means that the writer of the check can earn interest on the funds in the meantime. ____13____ electronic payments are immediate, they eliminate the float for the consumer.
③ Fourth, electronic means of payment may ____14____ security and privacy concerns. We often hear media reports that an unauthorized hacker has been able to access a computer database and to alter information ____15____ there. The fact that this is not an ____16____ occurrence means that dishonest persons might be able to access bank accounts in electronic payments systems and ____17____ from someone else’s accounts. The ____18____ of this type of fraud is no easy task, and a new field of computer science is developing to ____19____ security issues. A further concern is that the use of electronic means of payment leaves an electronic ____20____ that contains a large amount of personal data. There are concerns that government, employers, and marketers might be able to access these data, thereby violating our privacy.
