electronic/digital signatures

Ohio laws permit, and in some cases require, digital signatures.?ÿ?ÿOhio Revised Code (ORC) 4733.14 includes the following:

Each registrant may, upon completing registration, obtain a seal of the design authorized by the board, bearing the registrantƒ??s name and the legend, ƒ??registered professional engineer,ƒ? or ƒ??registered professional surveyor,ƒ? provided, however, that any registered surveyorƒ??s seal obtained prior to the amendment of this section
effective April 4, 1985, 140 Ohio Laws 4092, shall remain as a legal seal for any registrant who was registered as a ƒ??registered surveyor.ƒ? Plans, specifications, plats, reports, and all other engineering or surveying work products issued by a registrant shall be stamped with the seal and be signed and dated by the registrant or bear a computer-generated seal and electronic signature and date, but no person shall stamp, seal, or sign any documents after the registration of the registrant named thereon has expired or the registration has been revoked or suspended, unless the registration has been renewed or reissued. (Emphasis & underline added)

Several state agencies require submission of electronic plans and reports. Combined with the above section of Ohio Revised Code this requires digital signatures.

?ÿ

Mixed bag, depends on the task and the board/commission/council.?ÿ

California does, California Code of Regulations, Title 16, Div. 5,Sec. 411.e. Although some cities try to tell you otherwise.?ÿ

There is a lot of mystery surrounding just what these terms mean. Google is little help. I may be wrong, but I have come to believe that there is a difference between electronic signatures and digital signatures. Almost any pdf editor or word processor will allow for electronic signatures, but special software is required to apply a digital signature.

In Oregon, ORS Chapter 84 allows for the use of electronic signatures if all parties to a transaction consent to it, while?ÿOAR 820-025-0010 requires the use of a digital signature on surveys in lieu of a handwritten signature.

I'd like to see a type of Blockchain development of the authentication of the signature, that you register with your state, and only you and they can verify in it, and only you can update it with a component that allows the state to confirm and that's it.

?ÿ

100% ƒ??electronicƒ?

EDIT:

~100%

Then there are the documents that require notary's. I have mountains of those.

@mark-mayer?ÿ

I think most PDF software is capable of digital signatures, you just need to get the 3rd party verifiable certificate and use it when applying the digital signature.?ÿ This works in CAD as well.

Getting it to include an electronic signature along with the digital signature has been my problem.?ÿ I'm using Nirto and its digital signature format is problematic.?ÿ I have to do it in two steps if I want it to look good.

@mark-mayer Nobody's in charge. One entity can say a digital signature is a cryptographically secure digital signature that gives some assurance that the signer is who (s)he says (s)he is and provides evidence if the file is tampered with, and an electronic signature is just an image of a pen & ink signature. Another entity can say exactly the opposite. Because of contradictory pronouncements by various entities, there is no reliable definition.

@ashton?ÿ

Hence Blockchain.

@jitterboogie My reply was about what the secureish version is called, versus the totally insecure version. What blockchain adds, if properly implemented, is strong evidence that a document with a certain message digest (a.k.a. hash) existed at a certain time.

@jitterboogie?ÿ

That is what the 3rd party certificate author (CA) act as.?ÿ The document recipient can verify the authenticity of the digital signature through the 3rd party and if the document is altered the digital signature becomes invalid.

@ashton?ÿ

I think the ship has sailed on that.?ÿ A quick search pretty much reveals that the definitions have been solidified.?ÿ In Oregon specifically, the ORS that Mark referenced defines the terms.?ÿ Washington uses the same terms.

@john-putnam?ÿ

Like DocuSign etc.

If it works for a mortgage and legal filing it's gotta work for you stamping drawings plays etc.

Seems reasonable.

????

@jitterboogie?ÿ

The digital signatures I'm talking about are different than DocuSign.?ÿ You imbed a digital certificate into your documents.?ÿ The certificate can be imbedded in all sorts of files including CAD, PDF and Word.?ÿ Ther certificates utilize a public and private key.?ÿ The certificate is stored on your system and the private key requires either a strong password or hardware lock to utilize.?ÿ The recipient can acquire the public key which is used verify the certificate (that is the 3rd party verifiable part).?ÿ There do not seem to be many CA's that are reasonably priced, enough so that the WA board even put out a notice to that effect several years ago.?ÿ I've been using IdentTrust as my CA.

The certificate author is vigorous in verifying your identity prior to issuing you the certificate.