Internet file safety information center

1. A system to enhance safety of computer file distribution comprising:

(1) a server computer connected to a computer network;

(2) one or more electronic records stored in said server computer wherein each record:

(a) contains information about a particular file, and

(b) can be retrieved as a web page when a URL containing a hash value computed from said particular file using a one-way hash function is presented to said server computer; and

(3) at least one user terminal also coupled to the computer network, the user terminal operable to compute the hash value of the particular file using said one-way hash function, and then use a URL containing the hash value to retrieve from said server computer, in a single authentication communication with said server computer, a web page that contains information about the file.

2. A system to enhance safety of computer file distribution comprising:

(1) a server computer connected to a computer network;

(2) one or more electronic records stored in said server computer, wherein each record includes information about a particular file and is indexed by a hash value computed from the particular file; and

(3) at least one user terminal connected to the computer network, the user terminal operable to verify the authenticity of a particular file, including

(a) computing the hash value of the particular file; and

(b) retrieving from the server computer a web page that contains information about the particular file, in a single authentication communication with said server computer, including submitting a URL containing the computed hash to the server computer.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the server computer is operable to hash using a one-way hashing function the particular file and store the hash value in the associated record.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein the web page includes a signature produced by an authenticating agent associated with the particular file and wherein the step of retrieving the web page includes retrieving the signature.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the authenticating agent is the author of the particular file.

6. The system of claim 2 wherein the web page includes signature data produced when validating a signature associated with the particular file and wherein the step of retrieving the web page includes retrieving the signature data.

7. The system of claim 2 wherein the particular file is a computer program.

8. The system of claim 2 wherein the particular file is a data file.

9. A system to enhance safety of computer file distribution over a computer network comprising:

a server computer connected to a computer network and accessible by computer network clients, the server computer including

one or more electronic records wherein each electronic record includes information about a particular file and is indexed by a hash value computed from the particular file; and

means for responding to client requests for information concerning a first file, in a single authentication communication with said server computer, the client requests including a URL containing a hash value computed from the first file, the means for responding operable to retrieve an appropriate electronic record associated with the first file and forward the information as a web page to a requesting client computer.

10. A system to enhance safety of computer file distribution over a computer network comprising:

at least one user terminal connected to a computer network, the user terminal operable to verify the authenticity of a particular file, including

(a) computing the hash value of the particular file; and

(b) retrieving from a server computer a web page that contains information about the particular file, in a single authentication communication with said server computer, including submitting a URL containing the computed hash to the server computer.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the user terminal is operable to display the information to the user terminal operator.

12. A method for enhancing safety of computer file distribution comprising:

(1) storing one or more electronic records in a server computer wherein each electronic records includes information about a particular file and is indexed by a hash value computed from the particular file;

(2) identifying a first file for authentication;

(3) computing the hash value of the first file; and

(4) retrieving from the server computer a web page that contains information about the first file, in a singe authentication communication with said server computer, including submitting a URL containing the computed hash to the server computer.

13. A system, comprising:

a server computer to store one or more electronic records each containing information associated with one particular file and index the electronic records according to hash values computed from the associated files; and

a terminal to receive an electronic record associated with a file and make a single authentication communication with the server computer, including computing a hash value from the file and retrieving an electronic record associated with the file based on the hash value.

14. A system of claim 13 wherein the hash value is sent to the server computer in a web request.

15. A system of claim 14 wherein the hash value is embedded in a URL of the web request.

16. A system of claim 13 wherein the electronic record contains safety information about the associated file.