Having decided that it didn’t want to get into bed with Microsoft Corp and so having broken off its alliance on secure electronic commerce with Visa International, MasterCard International Inc has instead joined forces with IBM Corp, Netscape Communications Corp, GTE Corp and Dutch company CyberCash BV to endorse a new set of software specifications for securing electronic payment transactions. MasterCard has published a 200-page document of specifications to develop software for making secure electronic purchases over the Internet: the have made their draft document publicly available on the Internet and are awaiting comments from the industry on their Secure Electronic Payment Protocol system. MasterCard rejected the Visa specification because it doesn’t believe it is open. It also objects to Microsoft’s professed desire to receive a royalty on every transaction.
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