Consumer choices

Consumer choices

Consumers can opt to do nothing beyond getting a web browser that supports the secure exchange of transaction information using either SSL or S-HTTP. It lets the consumer pay for goods and services by credit card, and it protects the transaction from being intercepted. However it doesn’t protect the consumer from dishonest merchants who could set up deals in www to hack credit card numbers.

Registering with third party organization that acts as a go between for merchants and consumers can provide an extra level of security for consumers. The third party can act on behalf of both the merchant and consumer taking the payment information from consumer and settling transactions for the merchant. This means the consumer doesn’t have to trust the merchant with payment information because the intermediary company never passes that on to the merchant. For consumers willing to set up special bank accounts electronic checking or digital cash products may be a good option. A consumer can encrypt payment settlement information and send it to the merchant who has to pass it along to consumer’s bank, where it is decrypted and payment is forwarded to merchant.