Feds Web Crypto

[anonymous-remailer at shell.portal.com]

Washington Post, May 20, 1996
 
Feds on the Web 
 
Federal agencies' efforts to link up with the citizenry over 
the World Wide Web take a step forward today. Officials plan 
to announce a pilot program in which 1,000 to 2,000 people 
will try their hands at secure Web transactions with federal 
agencies. It's set to start later this month. 
 
The vision for the "Paperless Transactions for the Public 
Project": a taxpayer files a return to the Internal Revenue 
Service over Web links that use advanced cryptography to 
confirm to the agency that the return's really coming from the 
right party. Or, a retiree goes into a Social Security 
Administration computer to check benefit information. 
 
VIPs, civil servants and ordinary folks are to be issued 
special "key cards" to take part in the test, which will use 
cryptography from Frontier Technologies Corp., a Wisconsin 
networking company. Officials promise the vision is not that 
far away. 
 
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