Two items for consideration by eNotary TC

[Arshad Noor <arshad.noor@strongauth.com>]

Gentlemen (and Carol),

Thinking about the eNotary specification that we plan to put
out this year for electronically notarized documents, and after
some discussions with people on this topic, I believe there are
two important items of work that this TC must contemplate
producing along with the XML Schema Definition (XSD) standard.
These are:

1) A testing tool to test eNotarized documents for conformance
   with the forthcoming OASIS standard; and
2) Visual representation marks for eNotarized documents that
   are standardized across applications.

The first is critical to application developers - as well as 
the courts - since there must be a single tool that can be
referenced in the event there are disputes between two different
implementations of software which deal with eNotarized documents
and that produce different results.  The standard OASIS testing
tool will allow developers to test their software implementations 
for conformance with the TC's spec BEFORE they release their SW,
thus ensuring that their software does not produce different 
results for sample eNotarized documents.

The second is equally critical - but to end-users and relying
parties who would appreciate a consistent representation of an
eNotarized document across applications.  While software may have
passed the conformance test in #1, if each vendor chooses to
display the result of verifying an eNotarized document with its
own icons/representations, it could lead to confusion in the
industry despite the OASIS standard.

I would propose that this TC take up these two work-items and 
create the conformance tool and visual icons so that the value 
of the OASIS eNotary standard is not diluted.

To that extent I would also propose that, after the TC has come to 
an agreement on these work-items, it put out RFP's for the creation
of these artifacts.  The terms, ownership, licensing, etc. can all
be worked out in conjunction with OASIS staff (who are copied on
this e-mail for expediency).

I would also recommend that, while OASIS can make the conformance
testing tool freely available to adopters, the visual icons should
be restricted for use by only OASIS members, and only if they have 
shown conformance with the tool through an independent testing 
process.  Not only does this reinforce the value of an OASIS 
membership, but it protects the "brand" of an OASIS-compliant 
eNotarized document.  For end-users who will have to deal with 
eNotarized documents in their software, seeing standardized icons 
in a consistent manner within eNotarized documents will enhance the 
value of the standard to the entire industry.

Thoughts/Reactions?

Arshad Noor
StrongAuth, Inc.