Fair witness for electronic transactions

摘要

A fair witness (100) is provided to witness and record all or selected details of an electronic transaction. A transaction may involve multiple parties (120, 140) communicating via the Internet or other distributed communication channels. When one party (120) commences a transaction, the parties connect to the fair witness via trusted communication links (110, 130). One or more parties then pass all or selected details concerning the transaction. The details to be submitted to the fair witness are identified in accordance with a protocol under which the transaction is carried out. The fair witness reliably stores (106) the details for later use in resolving a dispute concerning the transaction. The fair witness may store entire communications (e.g., web pages), selected portions of communications, or message digests. Alternatively, the fair witness is located in the communication path between the parties and is thus able to automatically retrieve information and details to be recorded.