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

Notary Supplies

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.

    • 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-
    • 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