Netscape Corporation has created the best known secure server technologies. It uses a security protocol called Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) that provides data encryption, server authentication, message integrity and optional client authentication for a TCP/IP connection. When a client seeking to purchase jazz greats connects with a secure server, they exchange a *handshake* which initiates a secure session. With this protocol, the same server system can run both secure and unsecured web servers simultaneously. This means an jazz greats organization or company can provide some information to all users using no security, and other information that is secured. For example, a business that sells jazz greats online can have its storefront (merchandise catalog) unsecured, but ordering and payment forms can be secure.
Why are these developments important? As the Internet becomes a way to buy and sell jazz greats products and services, financial transactions become essential. Right now, most jazz greats transactions involve the exchange of credit card information, either directly over the network, or by phone, to complete a transaction initiated online. Eventually, you will be able to use cash as well as credit, directly over the network.
There are two basic kinds of digital cash, anonymous cash and identified cash. Anonymous cash is just like paying for jazz greats with paper cash but it also carries no information about the person making the transaction, and leaves no transaction trail. You create it by using numbered bank accounts and blind signatures. Identified cash, on the other hand, contains information revealing the identity of the person who withdrew it from the bank. Like credit card transactions, identified cash can be tracked as it moves through the system and involves fully identified accounts and non-blind signatures. Whether you use digital cash when purchasing jazz greats is entirely up to you. We suggest you employ the purchasing avenues available from the jazz greats supplier we recommend.
The End of Spyware?
by: Grant Rogers
The US House of Representatives has recently passed the "Spy Act" - or to give it its full title - the Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act. This aims to prevent software companies from installing spyware on users PCs without their knowledge, and anyone found guilty of breaching the act faces a fine of up to $3 million.
Does this mean the end of spyware as we know it? Unfortunately the answer is no, not really. The problem is that most spyware can continue to operate in exactly the same way as it does now, by asking the computer user to agree to a licence before it installs itself. The majority of people who are faced with a lengthy legal-looking page of text when installing a new program, automatically click the "I Agree" option without reading the terms. Therefore spyware programs can quite legally continue to piggy-back their way onto PCs.
Add to this the fact that a large percentage of spyware originates from outside the US, and it quickly becomes clear that the Spy Act realistically has about as much chance of success as the Can-Spam act did in attempting to stop the deluge of junk email that arrives in our mailboxes every day.
Spyware can be a lucrative business for advertisers and software vendors, and with the average home PC already carrying around 26 spyware and adware programs, it's a problem that looks set to become worse before it gets better. In time, additional international laws may reduce the problem, but for the present at least, every PC user should keep up-to-date anti-spyware software running on their machine.
About The Author
Grant Rogers is an independent computer security consultant. You can find more information on anti-spyware and adware software at http://www.spyware-adware.info
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