Next Meeting Notice: Revised Agenda

["jmessing" <jmessing@law-on-line.com>]

The next meeting of the eTrust Subcommittee and LegalXML eNotary TC will be held telephonically on January 13, 2004 at the hour of 1PM EST (10AM PST). I have reserved the conference line for one and one-half hours if necessary.

Here is the revised proposed agenda:

1. Roll call

2. Approval of minutes

3. Mission Statement and goals

Components

a. Identification of best practices to achieve electronic closings with in person enotarizations.

b. Recommended standards to be used for the enotarizations, as  appropriate, beginning with XML standards.


Best practices and standards are, in theory, linked.

Hypothetical examples,

Best Practice: Require a notary to obtain proof of ID.

Standard:  IDs must be government issued, have a unique identifying number associated with the name and a photo.

Best Practice: Require ID to be validated.

Standard:  ID format must match state format, including background color and uid number and name must  match in state DMV records as not revoked, which records are current within 24 hours.

XML Standard: Include the standard information in an XML schema or DTD to govern ways in which the standardized information is communicated, stored and shared. This enables many different vendors to provide software and/or services interoperably.

Discussion

The existing rules and regulations requiring paper documents of title to be notarized in person either have to be adapted or eliminated legally for electronic recordings to go forward full steam.

In San Francisco we agreed as a group that there were two value propositions for continuing to use in person enotarizations on electronic recordings. The first value was a recognition that a live witness testifying about an actual in person identification was superior as a way of holding signers to their documents of title. The alternative, which relates to automated identification processes, would lead in our legal system almost inevitably to cumbersome and often costly expert testimony about the reliability of the automated processes and their foibles, which often would be inconclusive. Also, business people were accustomed to in person identifications by humans for notarizations, courts were used to credibiity determinations from live witnesses about actual events witnessed by them, and so electronic notarizations in the presence of a notary required less cultural adaptation than automated processes, as for example, a PKI. (AKA warm fuzzies).

One member pointed out that enotarizations would have to be fast, cheap, and seamless. Another pointed out that they needed to be streamlined to get rid of unnecessary notarizations for so many seemingly unimportant items. A third pointed out that they could be broadened to include the concept of an identification and authentication professional. A fourth pointed out that such an I & A professional could help in the financial world, where rules such as Sarbanes Oxley may require real time identification of sources of financial data.

NNA presented Enjoa in San Francisco, which was a system to enable an electronic journal of notarizations. However, it did not mesh well by itself with MISMO-PRIA DTD's to facilitate electronic closings and electronic recordings. Some technology integration was needed. Richard Hansberger has just joined NNA in the newly created position of eNotary Manager. Please welcome Richard to our group.

Harry Gardner of the Mortgage Bankers Association has also recently joined. Please welcome Harry.

4. Legal status of eNotarization under state and federal law.

5. Progress on work of Subcommittees

6. Next call and face to face

7. New business

8. Adjourn

The call-in information is:

Leader's Name: John Messing
Day/Date: January 13, 2003
Time of call: 1:00 to 2:30 EST
Conference Dial-in: 512-225-3050
Conference Guest Code: 84759#
Maximum Duration of the call: 1.5 Hours
Leader's Phone Number: 520-547-7933