Passwords--Who Needs 'Em? Digital Wallets Help Shoppers

Are you shopping online more but enjoying it less? Tired of typing in billing, shipping, and credit card information on lengthy forms? Can't remember the log-in names and passwords for your 20 favorite Web sites? Help is at hand. Free Web services and utilities--from Microsoft, Novell, big banks, and a raft of Internet start-ups--want to do the job for you. And for the most part, they do it fairly well.

These so-called digital wallets and digital ID tools fill out Web forms for you. Some are applications you must download and install to use with your browser; others are Web-based. Some store all your user IDs and passwords, so you need only log on to the service to access any site you're registered with; others manage your personal information, enabling you to breeze through the frequently tedious process of registering for Web sites. Digital wallets simplify online shopping by adding billing, shipping, and credit card information.

But in our tests, not all services worked perfectly, and the software behind them can make Windows slower and less stable. Privacy is an even bigger concern: A company that has your personal information and sees all the forms you fill out could sell a very accurate consumer profile of you to marketers. Virtually all these services promise not to disclose such information, but privacy policies can change. For this reason, services that don't have direct access to your personal information (usually because it's stored on your own hard drive) are safer than ones that do.

Passport to Where?

The big names in the digital ID game don't necessarily offer the best services. Microsoft's Passport, which started out as a site log-on tool, now has a wallet feature that is easy to use. But it only works at Microsoft's online partners, which at this writing number just 31 (including Barnes & Noble and buy.com), with 80 more signed up. And Microsoft stores your data on its servers. The good news: IDC analyst Malcolm Maclachlan says that because of the public outcry that would inevitably result, Microsoft is unlikely to change its policy and give out your personal information.

Passport is the only tool that works exclusively with partner sites. With support from credit card giants Visa and MasterCard, several banks have also issued digital wallets. And though their design may be optimized for certain sites, these services try (with varying degrees of success) to fill out all online retailers' forms.

A Novell Approach

Novell's Digitalme uses the business card metaphor to let you reveal varying amounts of information to different people. A work card might omit the home phone number you include in a home card, for example. As you change information, the data on cards you've already given out is updated automatically. The software can also fill out forms using data on the Digitalme card you choose.

Like Passport, Digitalme stores your private data on its servers. But Novell insists that encryption renders the data inaccessible to its employees.

Other sites that keep your data on their servers include Zkey.com's Zcentral, Ezlogin.com, Lucent's ProxyMate, and eCode.com. You'll want to consider how much you trust these companies before signing up.

Little-Known Heroes

The three finest form-fillers--Jotter, Gator, and the Enonymous Advisor--all store your data in encrypted form on your own PC, so they couldn't sell your information even if they wanted to.

Jotter, which offers a range of personal services, is the best of the three. The program lets you use different log-in identities with separate names, addresses, and so on. Best of all, one Jotter button provides explanations and ratings of most major commerce sites' privacy policies. The descriptions are not detailed, but they suffice to alert you to what you may be getting into.

Jotter's privacy ratings come from enonymous.com, which also offers them with its own Enonymous Advisor software. Smaller than Jotter, Enonymous Advisor has one unique and useful feature: It lets you fill in a form with false data--handy at sites that require personal information before letting you download a file. But Enonymous Advisor will not memorize your log-in names and passwords. For its part, Gator doesn't offer privacy ratings, but it delivers the basics.

Surfing the Web is a balancing act between convenience and privacy. If you opt for a form-filling service, choose one that stores your information on your own hard drive. And even then, think before you divulge personal data.