Who are you? [Internet information security]

Summary form only given. The Internet has become central to commerce, international and domestic, and multimedia technology is at the core of this explosive growth. The future is virtually unlimited with but one significant and growing concern - protection - of the privacy of the individuals employing the Internet (or identified in the many repositories of businesses that record information on their customers to better serve them), the intellectual property or confidential business practices of the businesses employing the Internet and the safety and security of the public. This discussion addresses examples of the breakdowns in protection of information on the Internet and the implications on privacy, intellectual property and safety and security. Alternative approaches to addressing the concern is identified and alternatives for secure credentials employing smartcards to respond to the question, "Who are you?", and employing readers as a gateway to the Internet where your identification can be verified and access granted to repositories and processing capabilities and services based on you "permissions". The application of technologies such as biometrics for personal identification, certificates granting time dependent permissions with identified constraints, and the dependence on object oriented infrastructures to implement the protection with reasonable and "acceptable" response times. The discussion ends with a question and answer session seeking audience experiences and opinions and offering the speakers opinions and predictions.