I only have a reply to some of Lee/AR's items
"1. The technology is beyond me." We already have some specialization in the paper notary field. For example some are mobile notaries and some aren't. Electronic notarization will create more niches. For example, want to get an AutoCAD land survey notarized? Probably the land survey firm will have to have their secretary get a notary commission because he/she will have access to the expensive AutoCAD software.
Item 2 is about being competitive in getting enotarization jobs from platforms. Important for the participants in this forum, but state rulemakers should have a broader view, and considering everyone who's a notary, such as lawyers, paralegals, town clerks, judges, police officers, bank employees, etc.
"3. I would have to upgrade my equipment & question the ROI..." I don't plan to engage in this for pay, for all the reasons Lee/AR and others mention. But I already have a laptop that can do the job, and use it to activate gift cards for disaster clients in my volunteer work. So the only expense for me would be a digital certificate. SO far I don't see any ROI for that.
"4. Have serious concerns with liability for things I can't control...."
If I'm just using a digital certificate, and not a platform, I'm not too worried about it being misused, because it's under my control. IdenTrust or whoever doesn't have the secret key. But most platforms require the notary to upload the secret key to the platform and, supposedly, they'll use it on the notary's behalf when the notary orders the platform to use it by clicking in the right spots. I do worry about whether I can trust the platform to keep the secret key secret and only use it when I tell them too.
I do worry that a certificate authority like IdentTrust or others might issue a certificate in my name when I didn't ask for it. It would be much like someone getting a driver license in some other state when I never asked for it. But that could happen to anyone with a notary commission, whether the ever participated in electronic notarization or not. |
