On-line membership verification utilizing an associated organization certificate

摘要

Disclosed is a computer implemented method for verifying a membership certificate of a purported member of an identified organization. The membership certificate is represented as an icon on a purported member’s website. The computer implemented method comprises activating the membership certificate icon and retrieving the membership certificate linked to the icon. The membership certificate comprises a field identifying an organization that issued the membership certificate and a payload section including specific information pertaining to the purported member. The specific information is structured by specific fields. The method further comprises retrieves an organization certificate associated with the identified organization that creates the membership certificate. The organization certificate includes a predetermined set of information elements defining the membership. The predetermined set of information elements structured by fixed fields is defined by the identified organization. The method then comprises comparing the specific information structured by specific fields in the payload section of the membership certificate with the predetermined set of information elements within the organization certificate; and verifying the membership certificate if and only if the specific information structured by specific fields in the membership certificate matches the predetermined set of information elements structured by fixed fields within the organization certificate as defined by the identified organization.