FANTASTIC SEMINAR
February 10, 2000
Digital Signatures and E-Commerce

On Feb 10, 2000 the Wyoming Chapter hosted another successful seminar. The topic was 'Digital Signatures and E-Commerce,' presented by Linda Mackintosh of ID Certify, Inc. Ms. Mackintosh laid the foundation by introducing us to the realm of e-commerce and what it has and is doing for enterprising companies. Over 40% of U.S. companies are engaged in e-commerce and those that are not or hesitate may be left behind. E-commerce is not just a set of tools to be used, but a concept that has caused a re-engineering of business processes. She defined the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and how it functions along with the issues of access, authentication, and privacy. Ms. Mackintosh also discussed digital signatures, what they are, what they're not, and the role of third party authenticators. She pointed up the legal concerns involved and enabling measures that can be taken, and spent a great deal of time on creating and verifying digital signatures. She concluded by examining where the State of Wyoming is in the process and what we should be doing.

The seminar attendees enjoyed a bonus in the form of Governor Jim Geringer, who opened the seminar with some technical information on the process and his vision of how the state might use the concept of e-commerce. He displayed remarkable knowledge on the topic.

The seminar was one of our better attended, having registered 102 people. The large turn out of information technology managers gave evidence that we again provided a topic that filled a need in state, local government and the private sector.

PowerPoint presentation from the seminar is available here:
ARMA Seminar 2000 Slides
(You will need Acrobat Reader to view this file)