As businesses offer their products and services over the web, they need to consider the safety and convenience issues for their customers. Digital IDs provide a trusted means of authenticating the identity of each party in an electronic transaction. VeriSign's Digital IDs are used much the same way as conventional forms of identification, such as a driver's license or passport, to provide irrefutable evidence of the owner's identity and, in some cases, authority in a given transaction. VeriSign Digital IDs are available through leading email applications from ConnectSoft, Frontier Technologies, Microsoft, Netscape, OpenSoft, and Worldtalk. Directory listings make it easy for consumers to locate users' email addresses and their associated Digital IDs.
Users can then present their IDs at different sites in a secure and simple fashion.
Each site agreeing to accept Digital IDs must adhere to a privacy pledge from VeriSign to ensure that the consumer knows how their personal information will be used. To kick off this major effort to enable the use of public, interoperable Digital IDs across the Internet, VeriSign is announcing a number of applications, web site support, privacy policies, and partnerships, all of which address the notion of bringing safety, convenience and acceptance of Digital IDs to the Internet. VeriSign is also offering a free 6-month evaluation Class 1 Digital ID through promotions with Netscape and Microsoft. The evaluation Digital ID includes support for secure email, a free directory listing and web site login. Inc. VeriSign Inc. is the world's leading Internet Certification Authority, the trusted third party that authenticates, issues and manages digital certificates on the Internet.