Re: Internet ordering -OT
I'd like to jump in here with a couple of comments on this topic. From
'93 until I retired in early '97, I headed electronic product
development for a major publisher, with emphasis on building,
maintaining, & marketing a web site which was available through paid
subscription only. You can imagine the protracted discussions &
arguments about security issues that took place. We were fortunate to
have a group of brilliant technical developers, one of whom had worked
for the government in connection with sensitive installations. We also
worked with dozens of outside experts. The consensus about the use of
credit cards on the net turned out something like this:
1) Deal with sites with secure servers only. While what Chris says is
true about the 40/128 bit encryption methods, the majority of developers
use 40 bit because if sites have *any* position outside the U.S. at all,
the 128 bit method can't be exported - the government classifies it as
weaponry (???). There's been a battle to change this but I haven't kept
on top of it for a year.
2) Deal with institutions that are established. If it's a name you trust
for mail order, you can trust it for net commerce.
3) Most credit card companies now provide the same protection for credit
card theft on the net that they do for any other misuse. If you aren't
sure, check with your card provider.
4) Finally -- as of mid-97, the last official report I read -- there had
been No, repeat No, verifiable instance of credit card number theft on
the net. Many rumors & anxieties but no actual incident. If there have
been verified incidents since then, remember that 99.99% of all misuse
is and has been through non-net transactions.
5) And really finally -- most firms with Web presences give you an
alternative way to pay, either by calling with your CC # or mailing a
check, or faxing. That's what we ended up doing; fewer than 10% of
customers used the alternative route -- the rest entered their card # on
the web site form.
I'll be glad to correspond privately with anyone on this topic -- can we
get back to perennials??? :-> See next post for a question on that very
topic!
Anne - Chicago
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