Netscape Launches Electronic Form Signing Feature

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December 30, 1997, TechWeb News

Netscape Launches Electronic Form Signing Feature
By Tim Wilson

Sending forms electronically via the Internet is no big deal. It's getting the right people to sign off on them that's difficult.

In early 1998, Netscape Communications will begin beta testing extensions to its Communicator client that will offer electronic form signing, a digital signature technology that will let users put a unique, encrypted notation on an electronic document received over the Internet.

"A lot of companies are moving into E-commerce, but there are still some paper processes that can't be replicated on the Web," said David Andrews, senior security product manager at Netscape. "In order to process transactions, a lot of merchants and financial institutions still require users to print out electronic forms and fax them in with a signature."

The new extension to Communicator--which will be pilot-tested by two major financial institutions in early 1998--will let users register unique numerical strings--electronic "signatures"--with certification authorities such as VeriSign. These encrypted signatures can be called up and used to sign off on forms such as purchase orders or funds transfers, Netscape said.

The National Automated Clearing House Association, which handles funds transfers between banks, has agreed to pilot-test the forms signing capability in the first part of the new year. Integrion Financial Network--an equal partnership of 18 financial institutions, Visa USA and IBM--also said it will use the technology.

Certification authorities that announced support for the new Communicator feature include BelSign, CertiSign, GTE Cybertrust, IPS Seguridad, Thawte and VeriSign.

The digital signature capability is based on industry standards such as X.509 and RSA's PKCS7 signature standard, Andrews said.