It is earned over time, triggered by reputation and evoked by brand. It provides certainty, clarifies intent, maintains confidence and protects interests. It includes protocols to test identities, to verify authority levels and privileges, to ensure privacy and to validate approvals. It helps to authenticate documents and establish with certainty the date, time and place of a transaction. The challenges that loom In e-commerce, however, these dynamics change radically.
Electronic documents are a complex array of data types, including audio, video, text and images.
Original messages can be modified without detection. Electronic copies of documents seem original. Methods for authenticating identities or documents are not widely or uniformly embraced. It is a world where symbols, sounds and 'click through' processes constitute a signature. Through the use of 'digital certificates', which may be issued and maintained by independent 3rd parties, a more natural interchange is effected between a customer and a commerce site.