| The use of a seal, card, or other identification while making a purchase or signing
a contract is a custom almost as old as history. As merchants and their customers
have begun using the Internet in recent years to conduct business online, they
have been challenged to find digital forms of identification that mimic traditional,
trusted forms, such as hand-written signatures and photo IDs. Because traditional
forms of identification don’t work well on the Internet, no universal
form of ID has been found to be suitable for companies wanting to conduct
business online.
Web site owners, merchants using computers to track purchases, and electronic
service providers have each been forced to reach their own, unique solutions
for identifying customers using only computers. Many merchants using
electronic commerce rely on passwords. Some have embraced electronic identification
known as digital certificates. Most attach an account name or number, e-mail
address, physical address, telephone number, and other identifying information to
their customers as well.
Each company with whom you do business electronically increases the number
of identifiers associated with you.These digital forms of identification (like passwords)
require safeguarding just like any traditional form (like a license). However,
because they are not tangible (you can’t see or touch them), your traditional
notions of how to lock up your belongings do not apply. Not only does that put
you at risk, but, just as thieves often prey upon people struggling to understand
what’s happening around them, cyber criminals can more easily take advantage of
people for whom locking up their digital information is a new concept.
Today, you are asked to sign credit charge slips using signature-capturing
devices designed to copy your signature for storing electronically.You can type
your credit card numbers into a Web form and a product will magically appear at
your door several days later. An unprecedented number of homes are exposing
private information, stored on their computers, to the Internet 7 days a week, 24
hours a day.These are all completely new challenges to our traditional notions of
personal identification, and these challenges bring with them new responsibilities
for protecting personal information. |
