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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION
FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY / AUGUST 25, 2003; VOL. 2 NO. 34
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Breaking News -
Security:
ISPA Looks To Make E-Mail
Official
The Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA), representing 97 percent
of
internet market in Belgium, has announced that by year’s end it will establish
a platform which will ensure that digital communication between businesses and
consumers can benefit from the same trust and legal value as a regular letter
and envelope.
E-mail has become the key communication tool for business and consumer
markets, and other forms of digital communication are rising rapidly (SMS, PDA
messages, M-Commerce, Web-services). Still, says Jean-Philippe Schepens,
Chairman of ISPA, when it gets to really important communication, people reach
for paper.
The reason for this is that letters, faxes and printed documents all have a
stronger legal history than their digital counterparts. Furthermore, for many
it is hard to imagine sending a contract or an invoice by e-mail, or thinking
to the future, an order confirmation by SMS. Because today you simply cannot
be 100 percent sure of the identity of sender or receiver or the fact that the
message has not been tampered with. In our opinion, says Mr. Schepens, it is
this lack of assurance that is holding back the emergence of true e-business
and e-government in our country.
With the launch of ISPAtrust, ISPA aims to remedy this. Sponsored by a
number
of its members, the project will establish a way for people to indisputably
identify themselves in the digital world and ensure no one is able to tamper
with the messages they send or receive. The impact of achieving this is
considerable. Printed invoices can go digital, order forms be filled out
online or on a PDA without the fear of fraud and -- given time -- one could
even imagine parking bills to be paid by mobile phone.
As such, the project has moved on from an initial study group within ISPA
to
a
model for setting-up an open and neutral platform that solves the
interoperability issues of all existing and future players in the secure or
certified messaging market, enabling their customers to exchange certified
communication with whoever over whatever platform.
ISPAtrust will remain in the role of an independent, neutral and open
interoperable switchboard for certified communication at an industry level,
Schepens said. In fact, we are and will always be openly inviting all players
in the industry to co-operate in this project. We are also counting on the
government and believe that together with ISPAtrust they too can an active
role to play.
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