A Universal Approach

At first blush, a wallet program wouldn't seem that difficult a project: A macro sitting on your computer could paste the requisite information into a standard Web form. Fields for information such as name, address, credit card number, and expiration date appear on every order form and could be more or less standardized.

There are problems with that approach, though. You can shop from one computer only, which is a serious drawback in a world of almost universal online access. Also, the computer storing your financial data must be secure, either physically or cryptographically, and preferably both. An encrypted browser cookie set on your computer could work across several e-stores, but that would require significant agreement and standardization across Web sites.

In another approach, users set up an account on a particular site. One well-known single-site wallet is's patented 1-Click Charge. After you store your information at Amazon, you need only log on and your billing information is available. Once you've authenticated yourself, you click a single button to trigger a transaction using the saved information. This arrangement makes shopping quick and easy, as many Amazon addicts will tell you, but you can't use the system anywhere else.

The universal-wallet approach—the one Microsoft offers with Passport—calls for financial information to reside on a central computer accessible at any time and from any place. Information is retrieved as needed by the authorized owner of the data, and then recognized by participating vendors. Clearly, a system of this nature requires complex technology and programming. Operating-system vendors, information storage providers, e-commerce vendors, browser publishers, and computer users must all work together to make a universal wallet work. The payoff is in simplicity for shoppers, who need to enter their billing information just once and then can shop wherever they please.

The desire for a universal, secure on-line exchange of financial information is hardly new. Banks, credit card cooperatives, and technology companies have been banging on the problem for years with mixed results. One result is the SET (Secure Electronic Transactions) standard of financial information exchange, a complex set of technologies and implementation methodologies that has been honored more by large banks and corporations than by casual users. SET competes with SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) in many ways, but SET is too complicated to implement on garden-variety commerce sites. Sun Microsystems recently embraced SET with its SunONE architecture, so Solaris and open-source systems may soon embrace SET. To the extent that Sun gains traction in the market, you may be dealing more with SET in the future. SET is managed by SET Secure Electronic Transaction (

Sun is also leading the Liberty Alliance (, a group that aims to develop an open standard for single sign-in and cross-platform network identity. Cisco, eBay, Nokia, Real Networks, Sony, and a host of other technology, communications, and e-commerce heavyweights have joined up. The alliance was announced in October, and it's just beginning to set its goals and plans. There is no speculation over when anything will be available to Webmasters, but industry watchers are staying tuned.