Re: Electronic signatures and watermarking?

[Atom 'Smasher' <atom () suspicious org>]

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On Wed, 27 Oct 2004, GuidoZ wrote:

> Depending on how technical and secure you're looking for, I'd say do 
> some poking around the bank/check industry. After all, they are quite 
> concerned with fraudulent documents getting around.
>
> I forget the exact website but there is an entire site based on a secure 
> paper and printing/signing. Some Googling will probably reveal it. Once 
> again, depending on your exact worries and concerns, using special paper 
> might be overkill. However, I'll betcha the bank industry (along with 
> check books and such) will lead to a wealth of information.
===================

<RANT>

i'm not impressed with banking technology when it comes to paper, and much 
less impressed now that CHECK21 is being implemented.

banks have something that the rest of us don't: the rule and force of law. 
aside from the usual laws that protect all of us against fraud, banks are 
protected by special laws and special branches of law enforcement. when it 
comes down to it, that may be a bigger deterrent against fraud than what 
kind of ink or paper they're using.

from a security perspective, CHECK21 is a joke. i'm looking forward to the 
first case where CHECK21 evidence is thrown out of court because it 
amounts to hearsay, not physical evidence... and there's no chain of 
custody.

</RANT>

really, if you want to have a digital signature on a piece of paper, the 
only practical way i can think of is to scan it into a file and sign the 
file. verification could then become a tedious process of comparing the 
actual paper to the signed file, but it can be done. you still have to be 
aware of other factors, such as who has access to the keys, etc.


- -- 
        ...atom

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