A METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ELECTRONIC CONTRACT AND IDENTITY VERIFICATION APPLICATIONS USING ELECTRONIC NETWORKS

摘要

A method of conducting electronic contract and identity verification applications using electronic networks is disclosed. The method includes the steps of: a vendor and/or financial institution verifying identity of an end user making an electronic transaction over a data network; the end user verifying identity of the vendor and/or financial institution; providing a public key encrypted data string containing the end user's identity check details and an end user specific private key containing predetermined details to enable the public key encrypted data string to be decrypted; sending the public key encrypted data string to a node server that verifies the public key encrypted data string by using the end user specific private key also sent to the node server means to decrypt the public key encrypted data string; the vendor and/or financial institution accepting an order or information request from the end user and knowing that the order or information is bona fide; and the vendor and/or financial institution issuing a transaction specific encrypted digital receipt and sending same to the end user over the data network, the digital receipt being created by the server node means to authenticate the identity of the end user.