I was surprised to see in my email that the board of registration is considering a rule making change to allow the use of electronic signatures, while not making it easier to use digital signatures. I have sent my comments already but I'm curious are electronic signatures allowed in other states? The problem that I see is that digital signatures are required to be "capable of independent verification" which is not a service that it currently available, but instead of removing this requirement they would allow an image of a signature to be placed on a document. While this is a common practice I don't think it is a good practice
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AMENDATORY SECTION (Amending WSR 08-10-009, filed 4/24/08, effective
7/1/08)
WAC 196-23-070 Signature. The terms "signature or signed," as
used in chapter 18.43 RCW and/or Title 196 WAC, ((shall)) means the
following:
(1) A handwritten identification or a digital representation of
your handwritten identification that represents the act of putting
((one's)) your name on a document to attest to its validity. The hand-
written or digital identification must be:
(a) Original and written by hand, or a scanned image of an origi-
nal, handwritten identification;
(b) Permanently affixed to the document(s) being certified;
(c) Applied to the document by the identified licensee; and
(d) Placed directly over the seal/stamp of the licensee.
(2) A digital identification that is an electronic authentication
process attached to or logically associated with an electronic docu-
ment. The digital identification may include a scanned or digitized
signature. The digital identification must be:
(a) Unique to the licensee using it;
(b) Capable of independent verification;
(c) Under the exclusive control of the licensee using it; and
(d) Linked to a document in such a manner that the digital iden-
tification is invalidated if any data in the document is changed.
When I used Cosign anyone down the chain had a simple process to validate any of my products. That was 5 or 6 years sgo when I started filing digital surveys in Utah.
I think the verification is interpreted to mean that a 3rd party has verified the signers indentity. I use docusign and a copy of all my signed documents is stored on their server. If I ever had an issue with an altered document I could look back to the original on their server to show that it was altered
I??m curious what people use for verification of digital signatures as well. I got that same email and was surprised they didn??t update the digital signatures section or remove it. I heard through the grapevine a while back that Washington was going to set up their own ??third party? verification service due to the lack of approved companies, but I think that was just heresay at this point... I have also heard of others using DocuSign but I think they still want a ??certificate authority? (if that??s what you call it) attached to the document that warns of any unauthorized changes upon opening the document.
Me too for about 8 years. Found it easiest to use and transfer.
Me too for about 8 years.
I think I followed your suggestion.?ÿ I had been using a self-signed certificate for a couple of years, but ran into a situation that required an independent cert authority, so made the switch after reading your comments.
I read it a bit differently. The allowance for a digitized image of a handwritten signature is something extra that may be included as part of a digital signature that meets all the security requirements in the rule, not a substitute for a secure digital signature.
s1084h "was surprised they didn??t update the digital signatures section or remove it." Sorry, but I can't interpret that without a link to what rule or law was left as-is.
I think "capable of independent verification" is quite vague without being further defined in the regulation. In the absence of any official clarification, I would think everything needed to verify the signature would have to be available from a source other than the land surveyor. So, for example, if?ÿ surveyor A wrote her own public key software that was incompatible with any of the popular versions out there, and did not make it available in any of the popular software repositories like Github, that would not be independently verifiable.
If?ÿ surveyor B used a standard implementation of the PKA public key crypto system, with a self-signed certificate, but never revealed the public key except in the digitally signed plats, and only gave these plats to private individuals, that probably isn't independently verifiable either.
If surveyor C used a standard implementation of PKA with a self-signed certificate, included the office address in all his plats, and erected a large stone monument with his public key outside his office, visible from the public sidewalk, that probably is independently verifiable.
In the realm of notaries public, some states are creating requirement such as
- The digital certificate must only be used for notarizations
- The notary must register the system being used for digital signatures with the state (some states just require notification, others force the notary to wait for approval before using it)
- The platform provider must monitor the licensure status of the notary and prevent the use of the digital signature process if the license is no longer valid
It is notable that there are no requirements of that ilk in the Washington rules.
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