OK – I talked about this a long time ago and got busy and haven’t written anything. So I will try to at least say a little bit:
Notaries Public have a distinct place in society as being state licensed trusted witnesses. This has made the role of a notary public invaluable in many high value transactions such as real estate sales. The human notary’s function is to insure that the person is who they represent themselves to be and that they are executing the transaction of their own volition, i.e. they are not being coerced or in a state where they are unable to make decisions for themselves.
Many people have wanted to use PKI to replace this function, just as they want to use PKI for nearly all authentication functions. Unfortunately for PKI as a standalone solution to this problem the function of confirming that the person is not under duress or incapacitated is still best performed by a human agent.
Many states have enacted legislation to foster electronic signatures for electronic notarization. One notable effort has been put on hold, Virginia passed electronic notarization guidlines that were to take effect on July 1, but on June 24th got cold feet. They decided that much of the text, which was lifted verbatim from the Esign Act, was too ambiguous and offered too much opportunity for fraud. Maybe they believe that notarization must be more prescriptive in its implementation to help the poor county clerks that have to decide whether to accept signing methods!
One widely discussed electronic notarization method is Colorado’s. Colorado recommends the use of Document Authentication Numbers which is a very simple and clever method to electronically sign the document. The way that the Document Authentication Number works is that if a notary wants to obtain a license for electronic notarization they are assigned a unique notary identification number and are given a log that contains a sequence of random numbers. This sequence of numbers that is assigned to the notary is private to the notary and a copy is maintained by the Secretary of State for future validation purposes.
When a document is notarized the notary attaches his seal information, his identification number and one of the numbers from his log-book. He uses a different number for every document that he notarizes. This combination of notary number + random Document Authentication Number forms a unique signature for every electronic transaction.
Colorado also allows notaries to use other, non-specified electronic notarization methods by special approval:
3. Notification of intent to notarize electronically shall be on forms prescribed by the Secretary of State, and shall include a statement whether the applicant or notary will use only document authentication numbers as his or her electronic signature. If the applicant or notary indicates an intention to use a different electronic signature than document authentication numbers, then the notification of intent shall also be accompanied by an example of the electronic signature that will be used by the applicant or notary, and shall include the following information:
(a) A description of the technology that will be used for the notary’s electronic notarizations, specifically for the creation of the notary’s electronic signature;
(b) The name, address, telephone number, and web or e-mail address of the supplier or vendor of such technology; and
(c) Such other information as the Secretary of State finds necessary to confirm that the technology complies with the requirements of the Colorado Notaries Public Act, article 55 of title 12 of the Colorado Revised Statutes.
I don’t know what other technologies are being accepted in Colorado, this seems to pose the same county clerk dilemma as Virginia has. Perhaps there are other guidelines published by the Secretary of State, does anyone out there know the answer to this?
In any case I will join the list of bloggers and pundits that applauds Colorado for making the whole electronic signature issue something that is very easy for anyone to understand!
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When u mentioned electronically sign the signatures, are they the same as digital signatures?
Apostile
Digital signatures are generally a component of electronic signatures. Some states require digital certificates and sanction/certify certain CAs. However generally electronic signatures
do not have to be digital signatures, Colorado’s method relies on state issued journals. The post State Government Electronic Signature Guidelines discusses these.