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NOW Notaries
Notary Public
History of the Notary
Public
Famous Notaries Public
Notary Laws
The Difference Between
a United States Notary Public and a Mexican Notario Publico
How to Become a Notary
The National Notary
Association
Electronic Notarization
INTRODUCTION
The convenience of the
date stamp has been has been used for some time. For instance, if
you compose a song or write a play (intellectual property) you can
protect it from theft by putting it in an envelope and mailing it
to yourself. You leave the package unopened and place it in a safe
deposit box for safekeeping. The post office provides a date stamp
when it cancels the postage and it can be arguably assumed that
the material was developed by the recipient and created sometime
prior to the date stamp.
THE PROCESS
Printed materials can
now be digitized (encrypted into a small image) and date and time
stamped in the process. These materials are then stored for safe
keeping by the service provider in their computer and can only be
opened by a combination of two" keys", a private key belonging
to the owner of the document and a public key belonging to the service
provider. This can be likened to the bank opening the safe deposit
vault and the box holder using their key to open the safe deposit
box.
SECURITY
These digitized documents
are tamper proof, at least so far. In addition, the signature of
the principal can also be digitized and placed on the document electronically.
Internet business transactions are using this technology at an alarmingly
increasing rate. The question remains as to how to go about notarizing
digital documents where it is necessary or desirable to do so. Two
schools of thought were explored.
o The principal personally
appears before a notary public each transaction in the traditional
way and affixes the digitized signature or acknowledges having affixed
the signature at a prior time.
-or-
o The principal receives
a digital certificate of acknowledgment, which can used multiple
times, appearing before a notary public only once, at the time they
receive the certificate.
While the first takes
advantage of the traditional notarial role and the new technology
in combination, the second generates several areas of concern;
1. Relies on the certificate
holder to keep it safe from unauthorized use
2. Does not address the issues of willingness and competence for
each transaction
3. Does not address intent at each transaction
4. Does not verify identity each and every time
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