Small Businesses Worry About MS Anti-Phishing

prostoalex writes "Ever get that warm feeling of safety, when the anti-phishing toolbar on Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 turns green, telling you it's safe to shop on the site you're visiting? Well, you probably don't, but the millions of Internet users who will soon be running IE7 probably will be paying attention to the anti-phishing warnings. WSJ.com is reporting on how Microsoft is making it tough for small businesses to assure they're treated properly by the anti-phishing algorithm." From the article: "[S]ole proprietorships, general partnerships and individuals won't be eligible for the new, stricter security certificates that Microsoft requires to display the color. There are about 20.6 million sole proprietorships and general partnerships in the U.S... though it isn't clear how many are engaged in e-commerce... 'Are people going to trust the green more than white? Yes, they will,' says Avivah Litan, an analyst at Gartner Inc. and an expert on online payments and fraud. 'All the business is going to go to the greens, it's kind of obvious.'"

Comments

going to have come up with a better way

[yagu]

Microsoft may think they've solved a problem and maybe they have, but this could be creating a bigger problem, though as usual it'll be no skin off of Microsoft's nose.

Microsoft's stance (FTA):

Microsoft says green shouldn't be considered a seal of approval, but rather a sign that the site owner is a legitimate business.

It may not be formal logic (all farmers wear overalls, therefor if I wear overalls.... (hint: I am not a farmer)), but most internet users are going to make the simple logical leap and assume that not "green" implies not legitimate.

It's easy for Microsoft to skate... they don't live the existence of normal business - it's a shame they have so much input into what others' business rules look like. This probably isn't fair. There has to be a legitimate way to become legitimate.

Re:Spend the extra time and setup your biz correct

[Ashtead]

But is Microsoft the right one to enforce this? Even if sole proprietorship or general partnership might be inadvisable, it isn't illegal, and Microsoft or anyone else who is not the government has absolutely no jurisdiction and no mandate to make it so.

Something seems definitely out of bounds here...

There's another problem here

[wbean]

We have a Web site where we process orders for other companies. The pages are customized to our customers' look and feel and the credit cards are process against their accounts but all of the transactions take place on our server and use our certificate.

We have no problem getting the new certificates but what company name should appear in the bar? If we put our own name in, we will consfuse the end users who have never heard of us. If we want to use our customers company name, then they each have to get their own certificate and we have to assign separate IP addresses to each of our customers - at the moement we only need one IP.

What a nuisance.

Re:Why is this unfair?

[lordkuri]

Bullshit. Why should I be forced to spend more money when a Sole Proprietorship is JUST AS LEGITIMATE as a Corporation. Matter of fact, a lot of people tend to think that a sole prop. is *more* legitimate, from years of dicking from most major corporations.

Re:Really?

[mwvdlee]

The only people this can significantly hurt are business which were doomed to fail in anycase, and scammers.

I have a small business, legally registered, which is a sole proprietorship. Even though my business is legal and even though I'm personally legally responsible for the business I cannot get this green bar.

I can pay the money for it (even though this starts to smell like a scam itself; pay the money for the certificate or you'll be blacklisted) and would if I could, but simply because they haven't defined rules to verify my type of business (which would be easy; My business is registered, has a clean tax-record and I can provide any identification they'd need).

So now MY business will not get on the whitelist because THEY fail to even set the rules by which I could get on the whitelist.

I seriously think MS should hold out on displaying the bars until sufficient rules are in place that allow all legal businesses equal recognition as such.