Week 9: Law & Internet Seminar (LAW 745)

Digital Signatures, Certificates & the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)

We will focus on the use of digital signatures in commerce, and the need they create for a digital signature infrastructure. Current proposals envisage this consisting primarily of Certification Authorities (CAs) that would link identities (or other facts about persons) to public keys.

Reading:

Basic Policy Issues

I've written a short article on the Essential Role of Trusted Third Parties in Electronic Commerce. Although already slighted dated, I think it makes a straightforward introduction to the topic. I'd read this first.
C. Bradford Biddle emerged as one of the leading crtics of the whole idea while a law student (he is now in private practice). Consider his student article, Misplaced Priorities: The Utah Digital Signature Act and Liability Allocation in a Public Key Infrastructure [PDF file] and also his Ten Public Policy Questions. Please be prepared to discuss whether you agree with this critique.
Please read at least Section 9 ("conclusion") of Industry Canada, Preparing Canada for a Digital World
Stewart A. Baker, International Developments Affecting Digital Signatures

Legislative Responses

European Commission, DG XIII, Towards A European Framework for Digital Signatures And Encryption
UNCITRAL (draft) Model Law on Electronic Commerce
A translation of the German Digital Signatures Act
Florida's Digital Signature Act and the Final Report of Florida's Digital Signature Advisory Committee
California's Statute...and the proposed regulations (version 1) [you may also want to see some general information about the proposed regulations] and the proposed modifications to California's regulations [PDF file]
Here's a quickie description of H.R. 2937: The Electronic Financial Services Efficiency Act of 1997 also known as the [Rep. Richard] "Baker bill".
Read another state's or country's laws from this list (or any of the lists in the optional readings) and be prepared to discuss how it differs from the ones listed above.

Doing:

Please put a short (3+ paragraphs) description of your paper topic on your website.

Optional

A superb set of international digital signature links are maintained by Julian Avery of the Information Technology Unit at Queen Mary and Westfield College in London. Well worth a visit.
Excellent digital signature policy links also from Kaye Caldwell.
And, also excellent, the Information Technology Legal Department of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts maintains links on Electronic Signatures and Records: Legislation, Policy and Technology
An early and highly influential document is the ABA Digital Signature Guidelines [You may also find it helpful to look at the Tutorial]. This document set out the concepts reflected in the legislation of several states.
The Verisign Corp. Certification Practice Statement -- probably the most sophisticated document of its kind on the web.
Thomas J. Smedinghoff, Summary of Legislation Relating to Digital Signatures, Electronic Signatures and Cryptography/. This is particularly up-to-date.
The Internet Law & Policy Forum, Survey of State Electronic & Digital Signature Legislative Initiatives
Check out what your home state is legislating on the State Matrix of Electronic and Digital Signature Legislation

Weaving a Web of Trust

Netscape brags that they enable electronic commerce.
A very advanced paper by Carl Ellison on generalized certificates.

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Version 3.1
Last modified: March 16. 1998