Proving you are who you say you are
How do you prove you are who you say you are? In the real world we have all kinds of ID methods including signatures, ID cards, passports, voter registration cards, utility bill statements, etc. In the online world it basically comes down to digital signatures. You "sign" a document or e-mail with some form of encryption that can only be decrypted if you are who you say you are. There are a variety of methods to do this; here are a few suggested by the Microsoft Office Marketplace:
- Avoco - $370 protects communications and even your entire laptop. This seems to be the most fully featured, even providing some DRM-like protections to content (i.e. sharing and copying restrictions)
- Comodo - FREE (for personal use). Sign or encrypt a message to prove that you and only you sent them.
- GeoTrust - $20 to sign/encrypt email messages AND Word documents, making your documents tamper-proof and fraud-proof. Compatible with the USPS EPM (below)
- VeriSign - $20/year to sign/encrypt email messages. Also provides up to $1000 of insurance if your ID is misused or corrupted.
- USPS Electronic Postmark for Word - FREE (for personal use) addin for Word that allows you to use a digital certificate (available separately for purchase via the USPS) to sign/encrypt Word documents. Accepted by the government as proof of identity as the certificate data is stored on a government server for seven years!
The combo of the USPS EPM and a digital certificate seems promising. Now, if only you could combine the free certificate from Comodo with the free USPS software!