First of all, for those of you who are concerned that this opens up some huge problem in security because bits can be copied easily, please read up on digital signatures and how they work. Rest assured that provided you use them properly, it is VERY hard for someone to add your digital signature to another document The key word is "use properly"! What bothers me is that most geeks focus on the encryption technology. The number of bits in the key. How many CPU years it would take to crack it. etc... Consider a steel door (crypto algorithm). It is x inches thick (key length) and you need such and such tools to break through which takes x hours... How safe do you think your wooden shed (MS Windows) becomes if you install the door there??? I hope you all realize what trojan horses and viruses can do to any "secure" algorithm if they get inside your Windows PC. Yes, they can sign any document without you knowing it. So what does the new law say? Are you responsible for all documents that your (trojan horse controlled) PC signs? Who has the burden of proof?
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First of all, for those of you who are concerned that this opens up some huge problem in security because bits can be copied easily, please read up on digital signatures and how they work. Rest assured that provided you use them properly, it is VERY hard for someone to add your digital signature to another document The key word is "use properly"! What bothers me is that most geeks focus on the encryption technology. The number of bits in the key. How many CPU years it would take to crack it. etc... Consider a steel door (crypto algorithm). It is x inches thick (key length) and you need such and such tools to break through which takes x hours... How safe do you think your wooden shed (MS Windows) becomes if you install the door there??? I hope you all realize what trojan horses and viruses can do to any "secure" algorithm if they get inside your Windows PC. Yes, they can sign any document without you knowing it. So what does the new law say? Are you responsible for all documents that your (trojan horse controlled) PC signs? Who has the burden of proof?
"Year 2000 IS NOT a leapyear" was reported as a "bug" in the VMS operating system in 1983! Read the bug response here, it's quite funny!