Three party account authority digital signature (AADS) system

In a system for making purchases by customers from merchants, a method comprising the steps of:

• (a) initially, for each of a plurality of customers,
• (i) associating a public key with identity information regarding an account from which payment may be made,
• (ii) wherein said associating is performed by or on behalf of a financial institution with which the account is maintained;
• and, thereafter
• (b) for a purchase by a particular one of the customers from a merchant,
• (i) receiving by the merchant both,
• (A) encoding information for an electronic message representing an account payment instruction to a financial institution, and
• (B) identity information;
• (ii) forwarding with the electronic message, to the financial institution, said received encoding information and said received identity information;
• (iii) upon receipt by the financial institution of the electronic message, said forwarded encoding information, and said forwarded identity information,
• (A) retrieving from said associated public keys the public key associated with said forwarded identity information, and
• (B) determining a validation result as a function of the electronic message, said forwarded encoding information, and said retrieved public key and without need of a digital certificate from a certification authority;
• and
• (iv) upon successful validation, making payment from the account.

In a system for making purchases by customers from merchants, wherein electronic messages represent payments from accounts with financial institutions, and wherein, for each customer, identity information regarding an account has been associated with a public key by or on behalf of a financial institution, a method comprising the steps of:

• (a) receiving from a merchant,
• (i) an electronic message,
• (ii) encoding information for the electronic message, and
• (iii) identity information;
• (b) retrieving from said associated public keys the public key that is associated with said received identity information;
• (c) determining a validation result as a function of said received electronic message, said received encoding information, and said retrieved public key and without need of a digital certificate from a certification authority;
• and
• (d) upon successful validation, performing an account authorization.

In a system for making purchases by customers from merchants, wherein electronic messages represent payments from accounts with financial institutions, and wherein, for each customer, identity information regarding an account has been associated with a public key by or on behalf of a financial institution, a method comprising the steps of:

• (a) receiving from a merchant,
• (i) an electronic message,
• (ii) encoding information for the electronic message, and
• (ii) identity information;
• (b) retrieving from said associated public keys the public key that is associated with said received identity information;
• (c) determining a validation result as a function of said received electronic message, said received encoding information, and said retrieved public key and without need of a digital certificate from a certification authority;
• and
• (c) upon successful validation, making payment from the account.

In a system for making a purchase by a customer from a merchant, wherein an electronic message represents payment from an account with a financial institution, and wherein identity information regarding the account has been associated with a public key by or on behalf of the financial institution, a method comprising the steps of:

• (a) receiving from the customer,
• (i) encoding information for the electronic message, and
• (ii) the identity information that has been associated with the public key;
• (b) forwarding, with the electronic message, to a validation entity for authorization of payment from the account,
• (i) said received encoding information and
• (ii) said received identity information,
• (iii) but without forwarding to the validation entity the public key associated with said forwarded identity information, whether in a digital certificate or otherwise;
• and
• (c) receiving from the validation entity an account authorization following a successful validation by the validation entity that is a function of the electronic message, said forwarded encoding information, and the public key associated with said forwarded identity information and wherein the successful validation does not require a digital certificate to bind the public key to the identity information.

In a system for making a purchase by a customer from a merchant, wherein an electronic message represents payment from an account with a financial institution, and wherein identity information regarding the account has been associated with a public key by or on behalf of the financial institution, a method comprising the steps of:

• (a) receiving from customer,
• (i) encoding information for the electronic message, and
• (ii) the identity information that has been associated with the public key;
• (b) forwarding, with the electronic message, to the financial institution for payment from the account,
• (i) said received encoding information, and
• (ii) said received identity information,
• (iii) but without forwarding to the financial institution the public key associated with said forwarded identity information;
• and
• (c) receiving payment from the account following a successful validation by the financial institution that is a function of the electronic message, said forwarded encoding information, and the public key associated with said forwarded identity information and wherein the successful validation does not require a digital certificate to bind the public key to the identity information.

In a system for validating the identity of a sender of an electronic communication received regarding an action on an account with a financial institution, a method comprising the steps of:

• (a) associating, by or on the behalf of the financial institution, a public key with identity information regarding the account;
• (b) the sender deriving, in connection with a specific transaction with a merchant, a digital signature for an electronic message regarding the action on the account;
• (c) providing the digital signature and the identity information to the merchant without providing to the merchant a digital certificate for validating the digital signature;
• and
• (d) the merchant forwarding said provided digital signature and said provided identity information to the financial institution without modification of the digital signature, and without forwarding to the financial institution a digital certificate for validating the digital signature, whereupon the identity of the sender of the electronic communication is validated without use of digital certificates.