on their web sites or in electronic mail messages emails in order to increase the confidence of potential customers unlike conventional techniques seal issuer 8 does not issue a static image to merchants 4 as described in detail below seal issuer 8 generates and maintains a unique electronic seal for each merchant 4 as such seal issuer 8 can instantly issue update change or revoke a seal when a merchant 4 fails to comply with the requirements in addition seal issuer 8 tracks the use of all issued electronic seals in order to detect any misuse or theft of the seal fig2 is a block diagram illustrating one example of seal issuer 8 seal issuer 8 includes web servers 20 seal servers 22 administration u201c admin u201d server 26 database 23 request log 24 and seal repository 25 web servers 20 provide an interface for communicating with computing device 10 via network 12 web servers 20 execute web server software such as internet information server u2122 from microsoft corporation of redmond wash and provide an environment for interacting with users 6 and merchants 4 such as when merchants 4 apply for seals or when users 6 request more information about a certified merchant 4 web servers 20 serve web pages and communicate the web pages over network 12 the web pages may include static media such as text and graphic imagery as well as conventional input media such as text entry boxes.