Posted by Jan Schieberl on 7/10/06 11:02am
Msg #132062

Electronic Notarization

I see on National Notary.org site a lot of information about the Enjoa, electronic notarization. I wonder if anyone has purchased this package and whether or not it has been beneficial in generating more work or income for the notary. Anybody have any experience with it? I don't see many notarty search sites where this capability is 'featured' so I know it is new technology, but wonder if it is worth checking out.
Thanks!

Reply by Charm_AL on 7/10/06 11:11am
Msg #132064

try a search for 'electronic signatures' for more info

Reply by lonestar_tx on 7/10/06 11:12am
Msg #132065

Here is one item I found on my search....

http://www.interlinkelec.com/index.html

Reply by Jan Schieberl on 7/10/06 11:49am
Msg #132072

I guess what I was really asking is whether anyone in this notary community uses electronic signatures and whether it has enhanced their business and whether anyone thinks it is worthwhile paying for the program. Since I don't see this option as a search 'feature' on any of the notary search sites, it seems that it might be a little too soon for this to be something that should be pursued.

Reply by Marlene/USNA on 7/11/06 1:55pm
Msg #132382

Re: About the technology. . .

Yes, it's too soon to purchase a specific system and expect to be able to use it in all eNotarization situations now and in the future. It's not too late to learn about eNotarization - the laws affecting it, the different types of technology currently in use and in the pipeline, the progress of it in your state, how your state's Notary Public Administrator feels about it (support yes? support no? this will have an impact on how soon you can expect to eNotarize in your state).

Be informed and stay tuned.

Marlene Miller
United States Notary Association
[e-mail address]

Reply by Joe Ewing on 7/10/06 12:34pm
Msg #132076

The e-revolution promises to bring both "monumental changes and monumental opportunities" to America's Notaries, stated NNA President Milt Valera during the annual
"State of the Notary Office" address. I have a Digital Certificate and when they get that software on a MAC I'm there!

Jan, in my last 6 hour notary training class there wasn't one person attending that was renewing their notary commission. All were non-notaries seeking to be commissioned. To my surprise the first question was regarding e-notarizations. So I asked for a show of hands and almost the entire class knew about it and a few said that they were getting their commissions to become "e-notaries". You can't imagine how hard it was for me to suppress a laugh.

I love new toys and the technology is definitely there. Also the marketing potential is vast. You know there is also a yearly eNotarization Membership fee. Correct me please if I'm wrong but it is my understanding that one visit to a Notary to obtain an "E-signature"is enough to last a lifetime. If that is true, the NSA should be very afraid because once a borrower obtains a signature key there is no need for the NSA. The docs are viewed live on line the borrower signs, enters his "key" and it's done.

But the 24/7 mobile notary that just returned to his car and found his CD cases melted from the heat or his Lap top or PDA stolen will tell you this technology might not be for everyone.

Reply by Gerry_VT on 7/10/06 12:50pm
Msg #132079

Re: Electronic Notarization still needs personal appearance

Joe Ewing wrote "Correct me please if I'm wrong but it is my understanding that one visit to a Notary to obtain an "E-signature"is enough to last a lifetime. If that is true, the NSA should be very afraid because once a borrower obtains a signature key there is no need for the NSA. The docs are viewed live on line the borrower signs, enters his "key" and it's done."

There were indeed some proposed laws about 6 or 7 years ago that provided that if a signer obtained a digital certificatefrom a state-approved certificate authority, documents signed with the digital certificate would have the same effect as if they were notarized. As far as I know, none of these proposals became law. The National Association of Secretaries of State recently created a proposal about electronic notarizations at http://www.nass.org/releases/National%20Commission%20eNotarization%20Draft%20Standards.pdf

That proposal makes it clear that a person who desires to have an electronic document notarized must appear in person before the notary, just as with paper documents.

Reply by Joe Ewing on 7/10/06 1:20pm
Msg #132084

Re: Electronic Notarization still needs personal appearance

Thanks Gerry the reason I thought of this is that I did a notarization for the CEO of a Defense contractor about 5 years ago that would allow him to obtain a digital certificate. US govt only?

Reply by Gerry_VT on 7/10/06 2:32pm
Msg #132106

Re: Electronic Notarization still needs personal appearance

Keep in mind that the vast majority of signatures, whether digital or paper, are not notarized. A person who wants to sign things digitally wants to assure the person who receives it that he really signed it. So something to connect the real person to the digital certificate is needed; this is a digital certificate. The digital certificate is issued by a certificate, such as Verisign, Thawte, or Geotrust. The certificate needs some evidence that the person requesting the certificate really is who he says he is. One way for the certificate authority to get this evidence is to have the application form notarized. This really serves the same purpose as the California government requiring that the form to apply for a birth certificate be notarized.

I have a digital certificate. What it says, in essence, is that Thawte Personal Freemail Issuing CA certifies that a guy with the email address [e-mail address] is able to encode messages, and his messages can be decoded with the number 30 81 89 02 81 81 00 c6 6e 95 0d c1 89 6b 26 1d 23 0a 69 28 fb 76 1d c1 d8 b9 89 da c2 d2 55 ff 90 b3 2c 97 26 bb 20 78 0e f5 23 20 f9 8d 80 e1 32 02 94 dd 1c 77 e9 c3 ba f1 72 21 7d ec 49 e6 28 95 30 0d c3 1d c1 81 6d f5 b4 34 4d 88 38 2c 11 fe 81 20 8b ab fa 62 e8 3c c4 6f 8b 38 63 04 00 af 2f 5d 31 69 4f 9c 49 9b 99 4e 73 94 09 f2 e0 3f 23 97 49 b3 c5 ec 1c 91 93 43 70 16 b9 47 29 75 c1 38 50 a6 ab 02 03 01 00 01 (in base 16). As long as ashtongj has been careful to keep his private key secret, any message that can be decoded with the preceeding number must have come from him.

Reply by Gerry_VT on 7/10/06 2:36pm
Msg #132108

Re: Fixing previous post

Keep in mind that the vast majority of signatures, whether digital or paper, are not notarized. A person who wants to sign things digitally wants to assure the person who receives it that he really signed it. So something to connect the real person to the digital certificate is needed; this is a digital certificate. The digital certificate is issued by a certificate, such as Verisign, Thawte, or Geotrust. The certificate needs some evidence that the person requesting the certificate really is who he says he is. One way for the certificate authority to get this evidence is to have the application form notarized. This really serves the same purpose as the California government requiring that the form to apply for a birth certificate be notarized.
Some words got dropped from my previous post; here is the fixed version:

Keep in mind that the vast majority of signatures, whether digital or paper, are not notarized. A person who wants to sign things digitally wants to assure the person who receives it that he really signed it. So something to connect the real person to the digital signature is needed; this is a digital certificate. The digital certificate is issued by a certificate authority, such as Verisign, Thawte, or Geotrust. The certificate authority needs some evidence that the person requesting the certificate really is who he says he is. One way for the certificate authority to get this evidence is to have the application form notarized. This really serves the same purpose as the California government requiring that the form to apply for a birth certificate be notarized.


I have a digital certificate. What it says, in essence, is that Thawte Personal Freemail Issuing CA certifies that a guy with the email address [e-mail address] is able to encode messages, and his messages can be decoded with the number 30 81 89 02 81 81 00 c6 6e 95 0d c1 89 6b 26 1d 23 0a 69 28 fb 76 1d c1 d8 b9 89 da c2 d2 55 ff 90 b3 2c 97 26 bb 20 78 0e f5 23 20 f9 8d 80 e1 32 02 94 dd 1c 77 e9 c3 ba f1 72 21 7d ec 49 e6 28 95 30 0d c3 1d c1 81 6d f5 b4 34 4d 88 38 2c 11 fe 81 20 8b ab fa 62 e8 3c c4 6f 8b 38 63 04 00 af 2f 5d 31 69 4f 9c 49 9b 99 4e 73 94 09 f2 e0 3f 23 97 49 b3 c5 ec 1c 91 93 43 70 16 b9 47 29 75 c1 38 50 a6 ab 02 03 01 00 01 (in base 16). As long as ashtongj has been careful to keep his private key secret, any message that can be decoded with the preceeding number must have come from him.