UK chambers of commerce to offer digital IDs

UK ecommerce got a boost today with the news that GlobalSign is joining up with the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) to provide localised trusted third party services. Local chambers will become Registration Authorities, issuing digital IDs to firms looking to engage in ecommerce.

Digital certificates aim to increase business-to-business ecommerce by providing a legally-binding way to identify a company on the Web. Businesses will be able to get certificates from their local BCC, to prove their identity to those they trade with over the Web, and to check the identity of other certificate holders.

Martha Bennett, vice president of research at Giga Group, said: "It's a very interesting development because building up local key centres is a vital issue. The BCC is trusted by its members and is a local and neutral organisation."

Bennett added that the problem with companies like BT or banks adopting such systems is lack of trust among consumers. The other barrier to acceptance is the plethora of competing certificates.