[5952] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
IP: [FP] California inaugurates digital signatures - cnn.com
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Robert Hettinga)
Wed Oct 20 08:43:13 1999
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Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 00:38:22 -0400
To: dcsb@ai.mit.edu, cryptography@c2.net, cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
From: Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>
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"Lie in X.509, Go to Jail", pt. 2
Cheers,
RAH
--- begin forwarded text
From: believer@telepath.com
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 20:58:00 -0500
To: believer@telepath.com
Subject: IP: [FP] California inaugurates digital signatures - cnn.com
FORWARDED:
----------------------
From: "ScanThisNews" <mcdonalds@airnet.net>
Subject: [FP] California inaugurates digital signatures - cnn.com
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 20:06:03 -0500
SCAN THIS NEWS
10/19/99
[forwarded article]
California inaugurates digital signatures
www.cnn.com
http://cnn.com/TECH/computing/9910/19/california.digital.idg/index.html
October 19, 1999
by Dan Caterinicchia
(IDG) -- Yesterday California officially authorized Verisign Inc. to begin
issuing digital signature certificates to secure communications between
state agencies and between the state and its citizens, ushering in a new era
of electronic services delivery.
Bill Jones, California's secretary of state, marked the occasion by
digitally "signing" the authorization certificate for the company, making it
the first such transaction since the state passed a law that spelled out the
requirements for legally binding digital signatures.
"We're bringing in the private sector to help us to create the opportunity
for the public to access [government] services more quickly," Jones said.
"Our goal is to deliver something that's easily accessible but doesn't add
to the layers of government."
Digital signatures are seen as a vital component of Internet-based commerce
because they authenticate the identities of the parties involved in a
transaction. Verisign, based in Mountain View, Calif., was the first to
satisfy California's digital signature requirements.
Jones said his department is interested in using digital signatures to
enable residents to cast votes over the Internet. Other agencies have
expressed a desire to use the tool to secure business filings and similar
transactions, he said.
Stratton Sclavos, Verisign's president and chief executive officer, said
that for all the Internet has done to change the commerce landscape
domestically and abroad, so far it has missed the "citizen-government
relationship." He added that digital signature certification and the host of
services it affects will exact a "fundamental change in the way citizens are
going to interact with [state and local] government."
Verisign is working on similar digital signature projects in Oregon, New
Jersey, Utah and Washington, Sclavos said.
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-----------------
Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
