The UK government has recently opened the 'Government Gateway'
www.gateway.gov.uk which is to become the main interface between the UK
government and UK businesses and the public.
The current incarnation only fully supports Microsoft IE 4+ on Windows
and is currently totaly inaccessible from Linux or Mozilla !!
The reason given for the total lack of support for Linux and Mozilla /
Netscape 6 is that they require a signed PKI security system that is
apparently only available for Windows.
The site will eventually allow limited access by non Microsoft / Windows
browsers using 128 bit SSL, but the restrictions mean that people will
not bother using anything other than IE. Below is an extract from the
document.
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'The second method is preferred (and required for some transactions) but
is dependent on the client having commercially available PKI software
already installed and the user obtaining an X.509 certificate.
Currently, we only have arrangements with ChamberSign and Equifax. The
Entrust and Equifax software equates to tScheme level 2'.
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'Constraints
The first difficulty is that although standards are followed in that
Java applets are signed with X.509 certificates, the mechanism used to
package and sign the applets is proprietary. For example, Microsoft use
a cab file and sign it using MS Authenticode whereas Netscape use a jar
file and sign it with NS Object signing technology. Consequently,
separately packaged applets have to be created for each browser and each
package has to be signed with a separate certificate (from Entrust).
The second difficulty is the availability of packages to manage
certificates on platforms other that Microsoft Windows. Such packages
also need to support APIs that can be called by Java applets.'
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Surely there must be some open security system that could be
incorporated into web browsers that would allow the Government Gateway
and the users to communicate securley and to ensure that they are really
talking to each other.
This is particularly important for all UK citizens and I believe for the
rest of the world, because if the Government Gateway does not manage to
fully support more than just IE then anyone who need to interact with
the Government (i.e. everyone in the UK who pays tax etc) will be using
IE on Windows. This means that Microsoft can sell lots of innovative
Windows / IE only technology to all UK e-commerce sites. This will allow
Microsoft to use their desktop monopoly to achieve a complete Internet
monopoly in time.
The government do express some interest in 'funding some activity by the
open source community' but I suspect that if the project starts to over
run the budget then this is the first part of the project that will go.
The web site is apparently being built by Microsoft UK, so I feel sure
that there will be little presure from them to support Mozilla or Linux.
I have put the full text of the document I was send in response to my
request for justification of the decision. The document was sent in
Microsoft Word format so I have converted it to html with mswordview and
also include the Word document at
http://www.netlink.demon.co.uk
Steve Ball
