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Non-Repudiation in the Digital Environment



Please forgive cross-postings.

The following article just published on First Monday raises some
interesting legal points about digital signatures and some glaring
inconsistencies between use of the term "non-repudiation" in the legal
and cryptography fields.

http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue5_8/mccullagh/index.html

It seems that one conclusion to be drawn from the article is that
important documents can only withstand legal repudiation if they have
been signed in front of a witnesses (digitally or on paper) or through
the use of a private key that resides on a highly secure system.  Plain
old PCs won't cut it, since they're so easy to violate.  If someone
could have easily stolen your private key without detection, and no
witness is required for the signature, then the signature is of
extremely low value.

If you add the issues of maintaining the authenticity of that have been
digitally signed over long retention periods, the story gets even more
complicated...

=======================================================
Cal Lee
Electronic Records Project Archivist
Kansas State Historical Society
Phone: 785-272-8681, ext. 280         Fax: 785-272-8682
http://da.state.ks.us/itab/erc/
http://www.kshs.org/archives/recmgt.htm
  "Those who forget the past are condemned to reload it."
                      - Nick Montfort, July 2000

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