Electronic Signatures

Some of the other info in the AP article seems to be coinciding with 
discussions on the list, so heres a less condensed version of the article. 
Are we still within the limits of the copyrights?  God i hope so. :) 


---------- Forwarded message ----------
TAMPA - Flroida now recognizes electronic signatures as legal and 
binding, however, working out the logistics to implement the new law may 
take some doing.

	Andrew Greenberg, an associate at a large Tampa law firm...says, the 
process saves time by using a computer to handle notary duties that used to 
be done by hand. he expects the mechanics of electronic certifaction to become
simple enough for everybody to use.

	"It will be like the telephone - anybody can use it without 
thinking or knowing how it works," he said.

	Ted Barassi, chairman of the United States Council for 
International Business, is among a pool of experts Florida Secretary of 
State Sandra Mortham is expected to call on to set up the state's 
emerging electronic signature certifacation process.

	The law does not specify how an electronic document must be 
signed, but Barassi and others say it probably will mean coding the text 
and typed signature so they cannot be changed by anyone other than the 
writer.

	No on knows yet just how this will be done, but Mortham's own 
expert on the subject, Gene McGee, envisions a central database that 
tracks coded computer signatures for individuals and businesses. 

	With Florida already a hub of Latin American trade, cybernotary 
lawyers could make the state a mecca for international trade, McGee 
predicts.

_______________________________________________________________________

Its kind of scary when the best minds the state could find are so 
obviously without a clue. One of you politically involved folx could dig 
up addresses for some of our mis-representatives and forward them 
discussion from this list, maybe. :)

Adios..

> 
 > 	The law does not specify how an electronic document must be 
 > signed, but Barassi and others say it probably will mean coding the text 
 > and typed signature so they cannot be changed by anyone other than the 
 > writer.

Doh!  So set up a business which certifies PGP signatures.  What you
do is take money from people in exchange for a sheet of paper which
contains the PGP fingerprint, and a notarized copy of the person's
driver's license, credit card, or whatever.  Once you get that piece
of paper, you sign the person's PGP key with your business's key.
You certify that you have the piece of paper on file, and will provide
it upon payment of some small fee.

There.  A signature registry.  And you can even do it through a
service like First Virtual, or Digicash or Cybercash.  The only reason
I haven't done it is because I have other business with a higher
margin, and there's only so much Russell to go around.

-russ <nelson@crynwr.com>    http://www.crynwr.com/~nelson
Crynwr Software   | Crynwr Software sells packet driver support | PGP ok
11 Grant St.      | +1 315 268 1925 voice | It's no mistake to err on
Potsdam, NY 13676 | +1 315 268 9201 FAX   | the side of freedom.

On 6 Jun 1996 nelson@crynwr.com wrote:

>  > 
>  > 	The law does not specify how an electronic document must be 
>  > signed, but Barassi and others say it probably will mean coding the text 
>  > and typed signature so they cannot be changed by anyone other than the 
>  > writer.
> 

Before you get all hot under the collar, may I note that I've known
Barassi for more than a year, and he is very technically sophisticated.
Allow for some reporter-garble.   Barassi understands digital signatures
as well as you do.

A. Michael Froomkin        | +1 (305) 284-4285; +1 (305) 284-6506 (fax)
Associate Professor of Law | 
U. Miami School of Law     | froomkin@law.miami.edu
P.O. Box 248087            | http://www.law.miami.edu/~froomkin
Coral Gables, FL 33124 USA | It's warm here, and humid.

Michael Froomkin writes:

 > >  > 	The law does not specify how an electronic document must be 
 > >  > signed, but Barassi and others say it probably will mean coding the text 
 > >  > and typed signature so they cannot be changed by anyone other than the 
 > >  > writer.
 > 
 > Before you get all hot under the collar, may I note that I've known
 > Barassi for more than a year, and he is very technically sophisticated.
 > Allow for some reporter-garble.   Barassi understands digital signatures
 > as well as you do.

I never said or even (should you be a telepath) thought that he
didn't.  Heck, I've PGP-signed documents which I've then had to FAX to
people.  :)  OCR is your friend, eh?

No, I was responding to the person who was distrustful of the law's
requirement for certified signatures.  DON'T WAIT FOR THE GUVMINT TO
CREATE A CERTIFYING AGENCY -- start your own and get some momentum.
Makes it much harder for them to claim that PGP won't work because
there's no central signature registry.  PGP doesn't require a central
registry, but then again it doesn't disallow it either.

-russ <nelson@crynwr.com>    http://www.crynwr.com/~nelson
Crynwr Software   | Crynwr Software sells packet driver support | PGP ok
11 Grant St.      | +1 315 268 1925 voice | It's no mistake to err on
Potsdam, NY 13676 | +1 315 268 9201 FAX   | the side of freedom.

On 7 Jun 1996 nelson@crynwr.com wrote:

> No, I was responding to the person who was distrustful of the law's
> requirement for certified signatures.  DON'T WAIT FOR THE GUVMINT TO
> CREATE A CERTIFYING AGENCY -- start your own and get some momentum.
> Makes it much harder for them to claim that PGP won't work because

Good advice. And if we are all waiting for our respective Post Offices
to come aboard we'll have to wait for a long time. I don't remember
how many years ago our Post Office was announcing 'real soon now' for
the first time, because so much time has elapsed since then. I guess
such institutions (bye economic capabilities) are mainly hiring cheap
incompetents who will never catch up with the latest developments.

Asgaard

> Michael Froomkin writes:
> 
>  > >  > 	The law does not specify how an electronic document must be 
>  > >  > signed, but Barassi and others say it probably will mean coding the text 
>  > >  > and typed signature so they cannot be changed by anyone other than the 
>  > >  > writer.
>  > 
>  > Before you get all hot under the collar, may I note that I've known
>  > Barassi for more than a year, and he is very technically sophisticated.
>  > Allow for some reporter-garble.   Barassi understands digital signatures
>  > as well as you do.
> 

I suppose that I'll have to trust you on this score, and hope that you're 
correct.  Unfortunately, however, even if you are correct, it doesn't 
mean that the law that eventually makes it through commitee will provide 
any useful guidelines. <shrug> But this thread has decended to noizes, so 
I'm out. 

Adios..