http://bermudasun.bm/cgi-local/edpull.pl?cat=03Business&ord=03&ed=2002-03-13 By Robin Holder Business from 2002-03-13 Edition BERMUDA IS actively promoting itself as a jurisdiction for offshore E-commerce, according to Nicko van Someren, the general chair of the International Financial Cryptography Conference (FC 02) taking place at Sonesta Beach Resort this week. The sixth annual conference, organized by the International Financial Cryptography Association, is bringing together cryptographers, technologists, businesses, bankers and lawyers. It is the only international gathering dedicated to the understanding of cryptography - the science of encoding messages - and its relevance to international finance. "Cryptography is not just about encryption codes and keeping things secret. It's about authentication, finding out about the person on the other end of the line, integrity checking and ensuring confidentiality," van Someren, also chief technology officer of nCipher Corp., said. For cryptography to be effective, protocols have to developed in conjunction with functions such as online shopping and sending confidential E-mail, van Someren added. "This conference looks at cryptography as applied to all aspects of finance. That might mean anything as simple as retail E-commerce right through to more complex issues like the validity of digital contracts and defining digital currencies which have some of the properties of physical currencies," van Someren said. He said people have been examining the technical aspects of anonymous cash systems for some years but there is a danger since totally anonymous cash systems could be used as tools for money laundering. "The conference is a convergence of cryptography as applied to finance in the broader sense. It might be payment processing on the Internet, or it might be managing the digital rights of people creating digital media or protecting people from identity theft," van Someren said. The conference was first held six years ago in Anguilla but this is the first time it is being held in Bermuda. Addressing delegates so far have been Renee Webb, the Minister of Telecommunications and E-commerce and Nigel Hickson, E-business consultant to the Ministry. "There are data protection issues that surround the OECD's (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) treaty on tax law harmonization and the cryptography involved in E-commerce has significant implications for that," van Someren said. - ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org To unsubscribe email majordomoat_private with 'unsubscribe isn' in the BODY of the mail.
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