browser vendors and CAs agreeing on high-assurance certificat es

[leichter_jerrold at emc.com]

| > Imagine a "E-commerce" front end:  Instead of little-guy.com buying a
cert
| > which you are supposed to trust, they go to e-commerce.com and pay for a
| > link.  Everyone trusts e-commerce.com and its cert.  e-commerce provides
a
| > guarantee of some sort to customers who go through it, and charges the
| > little guys for the right.
| 
| Do you mean like Amazon Marketplace and Amazon zShops? I think it's been
| done already:
| 
| http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/1161232/103-4791981-1614232
Well, yes, and eBay provides the same service.  But how much protection are
they providing for buyers?  I think Amazon will cover the first $100 a
customer paid.  eBay gives you a bit of protection if you go with PayPal,
but not a whole load - they rely on their reputation system.

e-commerce.com would bring up a page saying:  "We guarantee that
transactions
up to $nnn with this site will be to your satisfaction or your money back".
The merchant would specify the maximum dollar value, and pay e-commerce.com
based on the limit and, presumably, his reputation with e-commerce.  (This 
is one way it might be set up - there are certainly other ways.  And, even
in this style, the entire wording of the guarantee would be something agreed
upon between the seller and e-commerce.

							-- Jerry


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