Edupage, 20 Feb 1996

[E. ALLEN SMITH]

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

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>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.
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     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 at educom.edu) & Suzanne Douglas
>(douglas at educom.edu).  Voice:  404-371-1853, Fax: 404-371-8057.  

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