ABSTRACT
First Virtual, the first commercial offer to secure payment for digital information and services over the Internet, operated between 1994 and 1998 (New, 1995; Borenstein et al., 1996).
To ensure confidentiality and authentication without resorting to cryptography, the advanced solution was to use two independent networks to carry the exchanges in the clear, the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and the Internet. On the Internet, two different tools were mobilized: a browser and e-mail. Thus, use of First Virtual did not require any additional client software other than what is used normally for network usage.
