... the states and federal government should enact legislation and support initiatives that develop the legal and technological foundation of a PKI. Initial steps have been made in that direction. The first chapter of this report analyzes those steps and makes recommendations for further action. The second chapter places the legal and technological issues in context by considering what types of Electronic Commerce applications are being implemented in the public sector and how digital signatures could support many of them. The third chapter examines the other major challenges to Electronic Commerce in the public sector and presents solutions that some governments have adopted. The concluding chapter describes what government would look like if it overcame all the challenges present in this report and used Electronic Commerce to its fullest potential.
