IP: BLANKET INSECURITY?: Edupage, 10 July 2000

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> Recent events have shaken consumer confidence in the Web as a
> vehicle of commerce.  Privacy violations and security lapses,
> such as AOL's recent admission that hackers used an e-mail virus
> to obtain information about member accounts and Netscape's
> lawsuit charging that it violated federal privacy laws by
> monitoring customer downloads, have all alienated consumers, who
> are becoming more attuned to privacy and security issues,
> according to e-commerce analysts.  Many consumers say that even
> the potentially large savings that can be accrued by shopping
> online are not worth the costs of potential snooping into
> personal information by Internet service providers or hackers.
> The recent passage of the Electronic Signatures in Global and
> National Commerce Act, which makes online documents as legally
> valid as signed printed documents, will also open up new scamming
> opportunities for Web criminals, according to computer security
> experts.  Forgery of signatures and other identity theft could
> explode as a result of the passage of the law, say analysts.
> (InfoWorld.com, July 2000)