Your computer screen asks you to type your credit card number and send it into the black hole of cyperspace, and suddenly an image of a 13-year-old computer genius cracking codes from his bedroom flashes into your imagination. How safe is your payment information?Many jewelers now conduct daily transactions over the Internet, but some are still concerned about the issue of security. In a JCK Retail Panel in fall 1996, some respondents indicated they would never use the Internet to buy or sell because it isn’t safe. It’s getting much safer, however, to the point that many people in the computer industry have deemed the Internet more secure than some traditional forms of payment, including using a credit card in a retail establishment, punching a calling card number at a pay phone or completing a transaction over a cellular phone.“As far as small financial transactions, like what som