Once the interaction framework is in place, we are in a position to establish the participants in the interaction. We typically accomplish this through a series of authentication protocols. We convince ourselves that the person we’re talking to is a sales clerk, because she is behind the counter in the store where she has access to the cash register, and she’s wearing a name tag with her name and the store’s logo on it. Bear in mind that this is an informal protocol, and we’ve all engaged it only to have it fail. For example, most of us have inadvertently asked assistance of someone in a crowded store only to find that they are not actually a store employee; they just happen to have “that look” about them. The authentication operation is often multi-directional. A typical response when we approach the sales clerk at the checkout counter is for her to ask, “My I have your credit card and see a photo ID please?”

As we complete the authentication of identities, we’re ready to negotiate the rules of the interaction. “I believe that these items are on sale and there will be an additional 25% deducted from the marked price; is that correct?” And, the negotiation is multi-directional as well; “Well these three items are on sale, but this one is not so, it is priced as marked.” And, the negotiation may be iterative as well: “Oh, I must have picked it up from the wrong table. Let me exchange it for one from the For Sale table.” At some point, the rules of engagement, that is the applicable policy has been established, and an actual exchange transaction can now take place; consideration offered for consideration gained.

The exchange transaction in this case might entail clipping the price tag off of the items, scanning them into the cash register, adding the applicable sales tax and arriving at the total sales amount. The credit card is then engaged, a valid charge is made and a receipt is presented for signature by the buyer. The signed receipt forms a transaction log with some characteristics of non-repudiation: the signature ostensibly affirms that the buyer did actually participate in this transaction. At this point, this transaction is completed and the end-game of the interaction is entered. “Is that all, or can I help you with something else today?” “No, that’s all. Thanks for your help.” The interaction framework is then terminated when the buyer walks away from the sales counter. If you’re next in line, this is the point where the sales clerk might put up an “Out to Lunch” sign on the counter. But, that’s an interaction of a different color.

Perhaps whimsically stated, but this model derived from personal interaction experience has been implemented in many Web-based store operations. In this case, each of the steps that we’ve noted in the purely human interaction environment is mimicked to the extent possible in the interaction facility of a Web browser connected across the Internet to a Web server. However, we recognize that there are significant differences in the conduct of a transaction through personal contact at the sales counter of a retail store versus an attempt to conduct the same transaction through a Web browser talking to a Web server across the Internet. In particular, because the Web environment does not naturally provide the social ecosystem mechanisms that we take for granted in purely human interaction environments the levels of trust that can be naturally established in transaction processes is greatly diminished.

The authentication of identities that occurred between purchaser and sales agent as virtually a reflexive action in a retail store requires significantly more attention in the Web environment. Even then, the trust implicit in the environment is diminished. Finding a salesperson physically located in a place behind the counter and identified through a credential allows one to imbue a level of trust in the environment that does not naturally occur when we access a Web server from our Web browser. Unless additional mechanisms are brought into play, we have no reason to believe the asserted identity of the Web server and we certainly have no way of knowing its exact physical location. Conversely, the Web server has no reason to believe the subsequently asserted

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