From: IN%"educom@elanor.oit.unc.edu" 21-FEB-1996 11:56:31.71

***************************************************************** Edupage, 20 February 1996. Edupage, a summary of news items on information technology, is provided three times each week as a service by Educom, a Washington, D.C.-based consortium of leading colleges and universities seeking to transform education through the use of information technology. *****************************************************************

As I recall, this is incorrect. Without a signature/physical presence, it's the _merchant_ who is liable. Thus, a lack of (sufficient) encryption is a problem for the merchant, who thus may decide to not sell products via the Net - a loss for the consumer.

CREDIT CARD SCARE TACTICS Sending your credit card information over the Internet is really no big deal, says Simson Garfinkel, author of a book on Pretty Good Privacy encryption software. "The whole thing about encryption over the Internet is that it's not to protect the customer -- it's to protect the credit-card companies. By law, if there is no signature, the customer is liable for nothing. If there's a signature, they're liable for $50. The reason the credit-card companies want cryptography is to limit their own liability. It has nothing to do with protecting the consumer." And although Netscape Navigator sends a stern message each time a user attempts to send information over the Web, Garfinkel labels the warning just another scare tactic: "Netscape Navigator is printing those messages because they're trying to sell encrypted servers. It's an ad. It doesn't look like an ad, but it is." (Tampa Tribune 19 Feb 96 B&F3)

Friendly policy:

BANYAN SPONSORS E-MAIL SWITCHBOARD Banyan Systems is offering a new service on the Web -- a directory of e-mail addresses and other information for 93 million people and 11 million businesses worldwide. Switchboard includes a feature similar to Caller ID, that alerts a listed person whenever someone asks for that person's address, and allows them to decide whether to allow that information to be given out. The service also features public key certificates for secure communications between users. < http://www.switchboard.com > (Information Week 12 Feb 96 p24)

Sigh... why am I not surprised?

EUROPE BACKS V-CHIP The European Parliament has followed the lead of the United States in supporting the use of Canadian-developed V-chip technology that allows parents to screen violent or adult content from their televisions. (Montreal Gazette 20 Feb 96 C7)

Edupage is written by John Gehl (gehl@educom.edu) & Suzanne Douglas (douglas@educom.edu). Voice: 404-371-1853, Fax: 404-371-8057.

*************************************************************** EDUPAGE is what you've just finished reading. To subscribe to Edupage: send a message to: listproc@educom.unc.edu and in the body of the message type: subscribe edupage Abraham Lincoln (assuming that your name is Abraham Lincoln; if it's not, substitute your own name). ... To cancel, send a message to: listproc@educom.unc.edu and in the body of the message type: unsubscribe edupage. (Subscription problems? Send mail to educom@educom.unc.edu.)