9-28-95. W$Japer: "Infighting Unravels Alliance Seeking Standard to Protect Internet Purchases." The consortium brought together such top players as credit-card rivals Visa International and MasterCard International Inc., software titan Microsoft Corp. and Internet upstart Netscape Communications Corp. But this week, the alliance split because of tensions between Visa and MasterCard and their respective technology partners -- Microsoft and Netscape. Regarding Netscape, Mr. Dent of Microsoft said the firm's security deficiencies that have recently come to light have "tainted" electronic commerce on the Internet. Mr. Dent also noted that Microsoft yesterday introduced new security technology, including means to verify a user's identity, that is much stronger than Netscape's. STT_??? (6 kb)