e-conveyancing

[Nicholas Bohm]

At 11:32 29/03/2001 +0100, Pete Chown wrote:
>David Swarbrick wrote:
>
>> It seems to me that the consultation and ECA2000 seem to see the move=
 from
>> paper docs to electronic docs and signatures as a mere alteration of the
way
>> the document is held, plus some nuisance making complications with
regard to
>> signatures.
>
>The existence of a document is important for audit.  For example I
>look after several domain names.  Some are .uk names with the SKYGATE
>tag.  If I want to reconfigure these I have to generate a PGP-signed
>message.  Others are held through an ICANN registrar.  Changes to
>these are authenticated using a password sent over an SSL connection.
>
>Both of these are "secure" in a na=EFve sense, assuming I picked a good
>password.  But the difference is that Nominet can keep the PGP message
>on file, so I cannot subsequently claim not to have authorised the
>change (unless I claim that my key was stolen, but that is another
>matter).
>
>The same is true for transfers of land.  It is essential that there be
>a document which can be kept around authorising the change.
>
>(BTW, I wasn't sure I understood the original post, so I'm sorry if
>this wasn't the point you were making.)

There must certainly be evidence, but in the electronic context it becomes
debatable whether "document" is a good name for the evidence.  But this is
a matter of choosing good nomenclature.

The underlying problem is precisely the limited security of private keys
once in widespread use for valuable purposes.

The lawyers seem to think the engineers have fixed this with mathematical
magic.  The engineers seem to think the lawyers have fixed this with
"non-repudiation clause" magic.  When people start falling through the gap
and finding a hard landing, it will end in tears.

Regards

Nicholas

Salkyns, Great Canfield,
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