An apparatus and method provides non-repudiation of transaction information such
as mark up language forms, using a non-proxy cryptographic application, such as
an applet, that provides information to and from the Web browser. Once a user fills
out a mark up language-based form as provided, for example, through a Web browser
and selects a "submit" button, the non-proxy cryptographic application sends the
completed form to a server or the receiving unit that provided the incomplete form
and waits for the server to present confirmation data such as a confirmation request
form. In one embodiment, once a confirmation request form is received, the non-proxy
cryptographic application temporarily maintains the confirmation request form,
namely a representation of the completed form as provided by the server, in temporary
(e.g., volatile) memory, such as RAM. The non-proxy cryptographic application then
sends a copy of the temporarily maintained confirmation request form to the Web
browser for display to a user. If the user accepts the copy of the confirmation
request form, it is signed and sent back to the server where it is compared with
a stored copy to insure that no tampering of the accepted form occurred.