-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Lads, I thought many of you would be interested in the text of this story. I'm wondering if anyone has any comments on the excryption mechanism (i.e. "eavesdropping" protection) being used. I believe, from my visits to the Netscape (formerly Mosaic) Communications Inc. offices that they are using RSA, but I'm not sure how *secure* their implementation is (eg. key size, etc.). I'll be contacting my local branch to inquire as to how soon I'll be able to use the service and will post my experiences with it as soon as possible. This development certainly signals a major breakthrough in E$ technology. dave ____________________________________________________________ "Money is the root of all Evil. Send $9.95 for more info." =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= cut here =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Bank of America Goes Online With Credit Card Service By David Einstein, Chronicle Staff Writer In a major step toward electronic commerce, Bank of America announced yesterday it will launch a system next month for processing credit card transactions on the Internet. The bank, second largest in the United States after Citicorp, will use software from Netscape Communications to make it safe for merchants and consumers to do business online. Lack of a secure way to transmit credit card information has been the biggest obstacle to conducting business on the Internet, a global computer network reaching some 30 million people. "Secure payment processing is a critical element to making elec tronic commerce happen," said Netscape spokeswoman Rosanne Siino. She called the BofA announcement "a pretty big deal for us." Netscape's software incorporates data encryption that protects online communications from eavesdroppers. It also gives both parties in a transaction the ability to verify each other's identity. BofA intends to market its new service to merchants for whom it currently processes ordinary credit card transactions. The service will be free to consumers, who will be able to make purchases with almost any major credit card. Officials of the San Francisco based bank said they do not expect online processing to generate a flood of business immediately. "We anticipate that the maturity of this product is going to take a year if not years to develop," said Jim Aviles, vice president of marketing for BofA Merchant Services. Electronic shopping is not expected to catch on until the public gains widespread, low-cost access to the Internet. Full access is still expensive and not available everywhere. Netscape, an 8-month-old company based in Mountain View, is one of the leading makers of software used to navigate the Internet via a Windowslike interface. One of the company's founders is Marc Andreessen, the 23-year-old whiz kid who developed Mosaic, the navigation program that ignited interest in the Internet last year. Yesterday's announcement was the latest in a series of deals involving Netscape. Late last month, MCI said it would use the company's technology as the core of its planned internetMCI electronic shopping service. San Francisco Chronicle 6 December 94 (Business) Section D, Pg 1 ("D1") - -30- -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6somethingorother iQCVAgUBLugg0KHBOF9KrwDlAQFxNQP+NZCPCkuIoWfp4PJszoYDlY2UmkBPcLfa VyfuU0yMimJa1MW3Oolf5PyNpK2M7+yastFIRL1MmjxUi8FOZ6qQjIIsMe8ahuJV YVwCf9+v2Ll8XaDywG9+zvhQI4WoTBCL0aoCbKZkhm56IKj00aXMDP+zXYpx/SZM Z6bp0YNKk/Y= =UTZA -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----