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Posted by VT_Syrup on 3/23/24 11:10am
Linda's hypothesis that the SOS is trying to prevent notaries from having different e-seals on different platforms is an idea that crossed my mind too. But I think this bad policy for several reasons. I'm going to call it an e-stamp because RULONA uses the term stamp rather than seal.
Before I beat up the rules, I want to give my understanding of what an e-stamp is in Vermont, which I think is clear from the law. It's just an electronic image that looks like a traditional stamp on paper. It could be JPEG, PRN, TIFF, or the like. It has nothing to do with the cryptographic stuff that makes the finished record tamper-evident.
First, what does "same" mean. If my stamp is in JPEG format for some software and PRN format for another platform, but look the same, are they the same? If I shrink my stamp to fit in a tight spot, is it still the same? Am I forbidden to put my commission expiration date in my stamp because when I renew my commission I'm using a different stamp?
Second, in the world of computers, a stamp is a crappy way to establish security. It's trivial to go to the website of some town in the state, browse through the recorded deeds, and copy whichever stamp you want. Since all electronic images are, in a sense, copies, how can someone tell if a stamp is "original" or a copy from an old deed?
The only real security in an electronic record comes from the notary's tamper-evident electronic signature made in conjunction with an X-509 digital certificate from a reputable certificate authority. The image of a stamp and (if used) the image of a handwritten signature is what computer security expert Bruce Schneier likes to call "security theater"
Extra stuff
Bruce Schneier's website is https://www.schneier.com/
When I was an undergraduate at USC, before JPEG and other popular image formats existed, my advisor was Sandy Sawchuck; after I graduated he was on the committee that created JPEG. His faculty page is
https://viterbi.usc.edu/directory/faculty/Sawchuk/Alexander |
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