vigilant TV

Here’s an interesting article by Jane K. Winn, apparently written for the “Idaho Law Review Symposium on Uniform Electronic Transaction Act”. It’s a good take on the difference between digital signatures and paper signatures.

“The specific application of asymmetric cryptography to create the functional analog of an old fashioned manual signature on a contract may well prove to be an illusion, however. There is mounting evidence that trying to use asymmetric cryptography as a signature on a contract is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, and the effort to get that square peg into that round hole has created a phenomenal sink hole into which countless individuals and organizations have poured vast resources with no tangible payoff in sight yet.”

(see www.smu.edu)

Bruce Schneier has covered similar ground:

(see www.counterpane.com)