Digital Certificates

Why would you need an outside source to digitally sign plans, I am also in NJ and we do it ourselves.

Third party certificates are a common requirement. I used Co-Sign and found them to be easy to work with.

We use Identrust.?ÿ In my states all digital signatures must be verifiable through a 3rd party and must be locked with no changes allowed once signed. Once it's all setup it works great.?ÿ Keep in mind there are differences about what a digital signature and electronic signature are defined as between states.

IdenTrust here as well.?ÿ The nice thing is that you can also use it to digitally seal CAD files.?ÿ While the files can be edited by others, the digital signature is removed.

I looked on the NJ State Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors web site and found this pdf link. It appears to be part of the NJ Administrative Code, and therefore trumps any regulation issued by the board It contains this passage:

1) The digital signing and sealing process satisfies the requirements of the Digital
Signature Standard (DSS) established by the National Institute of Standards and
Technology, FIPS PUB 186-4, Digital Signature Algorithm Validation System, (2014),
which is hereby incorporated by reference, as amended and supplemented. This
standard may be obtained at the following website: http:www.NIST.gov/.

I did some shopping for a digital certificate. and didn't see DSS (also known as digital signature algorithm, DSA) mentioned Although the Digital Signature Standard document describes three different algorithms, the one called Digital Signature Algorithm has fallen out of favor. This statement from the relevant Wikipedia article supports my impression:

A draft version of the specificationFIPS 186-5indicates DSA will no longer be approved for digital signature generation, but may be used to verify signatures generated prior to the implementation date of that standard.

It goes on to require

ii) Verifiable by a trusted third party or some other approved process as belonging
to the licensee;

That means you can't use a do-it-yourself digital signature, you have to get it from certificate authority like IdenTrust.

So I think you're out of luck until you get the New Jersey legislature to update the law.

There is also a link to the board's regulations. The regulations seem to mimic the law, but add some requirements about the visual appearance of the seal. I'm pretty sure whoever wrote the regulations never operated a computer in his life.

A bit about my background: I developed an interest in ciphers because my father was a code clerk in World War II in North Africa, Italy, France, and Germany. While I worked at IBM as an integrated circuit designer, I rewrote the software IBM used to package design kits so customers who had IBM manufacture their integrated circuits for them could participate in the design process. This software used some of the same algorithms that are used in digital signatures. Later, I became interested in the developing field of digital notarization, and researched it to see if I could develop a consulting business in that field, but that didn't come to anything.

I use Doccusign. Not because it is necessarily better than any other, but because I grew weary of research. I took advantage of a free 30 day trial and sent a sample document to the NC Board attorney for verification that it was acceptable.?ÿ

Are those services different that using the Adobe digital signature option??ÿ?ÿ

@andy-j There is an Adobe web page that demonstrates that Adobe has several options for digital or electronic signatures, so Adobe is different from itself, never mind the other services.

@andy-j?ÿ

Yes, they are third party verification. If you create a signature/certificate on your computer and sign a document on your computer, the signature will appear as "Verified". That is because your software has access to the certificate that resides on your computer. If you send that document to me, the signature will appear as "unverified" because my computer cannot access your computer for the signature certificate.

A third party service allows your signature certificate to be verified online. Only you can access it for use but others can verify that it was you that signed the document. This keeps others from forging a digital signature with your name and using it to sign who knows what.

I have both my signature and seal in my DocuSign account. The DocuSign bracket around my seal takes up some extra space on my maps, but I have adjusted my templates to accommodate for it.

@bushaxe why not just add your seal to your border. That's how I have mine done. If I need to send something out unstamped for some reason I just turn that layer off.

@hollandbriscoe?ÿ
I used to have it setup like that. But when I went to DocuSign I decided to go this route.?ÿ

Posted by: @hollandbriscoe

@bushaxe why not just add your seal to your border. That's how I have mine done. If I need to send something out unstamped for some reason I just turn that layer off.

A seal added to the drawing isn't the same thing as a digital signature nor is it a digital certificate. The idea is being able to certify that the document you open (pdf or cad) is the original document which is either unchanged, or has a record of the changes.?ÿ

Simply adding in your seal and printing makes a document that is easily manipulated.

Docusign is the standard in my area for surveyors, engineers and Counties that allow plat e-recording.

With discounts, it runs just under $200 annually.

I occasionally see real estate contracts using Dotloop, Hellosign and Pandadoc

?ÿ

Posted by: @rundatline

Docusign is the standard in my area for surveyors, engineers and Counties that allow plat e-recording.

With discounts, it runs just under $200 annually.

I occasionally see real estate contracts using Dotloop, Hellosign and Pandadoc

?ÿ

Yes - The potential for E-Recording was one of the deciding factors for choosing DocuSign, although I have yet to E-Record anything so far.?ÿ

@bushaxe once you start e-recording you will never go back. It is so nice to click a few buttons and boom the drawing is recorded.