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http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB954726834832952362.htm
April 3, 2000
E-Commerce Growth Pushes
The Adoption of Digital IDs
CAN YOU PROVE you are who you say you are? In the real world,
you might flash a driver's license, or a passport, or even offer up your
fingerprints. The Internet is a different story. It's relatively easy to pass
yourself off as someone else online. That problem is holding back all
sorts of transactions from moving onto the Web, from big-ticket
purchases like houses to online trade with faraway exporters.
The solution, according to a growing
consensus, is something called a digital
certificate, a tiny computer file that can serve
as both ID card and signature. Based on
complex mathematical codes, these
certificates are essentially forge-proof. The
technology has been around for a while but,
outside of computer-security circles, hasn't
attracted many users.
Now, fueled by the e-commerce explosion, momentum is building. Last
month, VeriSign, the most prominent company in the field, turned up
the heat with its mammoth purchase of Network Solutions, the
company that oversees corporate dot-com identities. Congress is
considering legislation that would make digital signatures as legally
binding as their old-fashioned pen-and-paper counterparts.
ADVOCATES SAY widespread acceptance of this
technology would be a boon for e-commerce. But in
the rush to embrace digital IDs, there are some big
unanswered questions. Are these certificates
foolproof? Who should issue them? Will they drive
a bigger wedge into the digital divide, marginalizing
those without easy access to the Net?
VeriSign is more concerned about IDs for
companies than for consumers. With electronic
marketplaces popping up everywhere, businesses
will be keen to make sure the customer that just
ordered 10,000 widgets really exists.
[snip]
Credit cards have become the Net's
stand-in for an ID card. But credit cards can't fill in for a legally binding
signature. You can file your taxes online with the IRS, but with the
exception of a pilot program, you'll still need to mail in a piece of paper
with your signature. Opening an online brokerage account, for
example, still requires sending in a hard-copy signature. Not
surprisingly, the online-brokerage industry has been a big proponent
of making electronic signatures legally binding.
U.S. legislators are ironing out differences in a bill called the
Millennium Digital Commerce Act. Among other things, the bill would
grant electronic signatures and contracts the same status as their
paper counterparts.
[snip]
Who should pass out these digital ID cards? Right now they are being
issued by third parties such as VeriSign and other companies. But Bill
Jones, California's secretary of state, thinks he has a better idea: the
Department of Motor Vehicles. A committee of the California State
Assembly is slated to examine that idea this week.
