Systems designers have a long way to go to protect online privacy but the spread of so-called smart cards holds promise, the new head of a Internet technical coordination body told a government-sponsored conference on Monday. "We are far from demonstrating . . .
Systems designers have a long way to go to protect online privacy but the spread of so-called smart cards holds promise, the new head of a Internet technical coordination body told a government-sponsored conference on Monday. "We are far from demonstrating that the sense of privacy and if need be, anonymity, can be maintained" on the Web, said Vinton Cerf, who took over last month as chair of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

But Cerf, widely known as a father of the Internet, said in a keynote speech he remained "very optimistic that we can pull this off," referring to building in security safeguards.

He cited advances in smart cards, credit card-sized computers designed to validate a user's identity before conducting any transaction.

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