RE: [oiic-formation-discuss] List of ODF interop issues that need to be addressed -- Electronic signatures

["Hurley, Garry \(L&I - OIT\)" <ghurley@state.pa.us>]

I think that before we add in the requirement for digital signatures to be preserved/included, we need to have a standard definition of what an electronic signature is.  Is it a digital image of a written signature, a 64-bit key, a 128-bit key, a 1024-bit key, or just a 4-bit key?  Different applications will recognize different levels of security and "electronic signatures" until a standard definition is decided upon.  I would suggest that OASIS or some other standards body may want to define, once and for all time, what is and is not considered an "electronic signature" (a bit-length key should specify only a minimum, to allow it to be expanded as time goes by and as needed).

Garry L. Hurley Jr.
Application Developer 2
Office of Information Technology - Bureau of Application Development
PA Department of Labor & Industry
651 Boas Street, Harrisburg, PA 17121 
Phone: 717.506.9373 (UCMS) or 717.346.9799 (Harrisburg)  Fax: 717.506.0798  Mobile: 717.649.0597
www.dli.state.pa.us <http://www.dli.state.pa.us>


My comments do not reflect those of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, its various agencies and departments, or its citizens.  They are my own, and may or may not be shared by those in positions of authority over me.


-----Original Message-----
From: Radoslav Dejanovic [mailto:radoslav.dejanovic@opsus.hr]
Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 9:53 AM
To: oiic-formation-discuss@lists.oasis-open.org
Subject: Re: [oiic-formation-discuss] List of ODF interop issues that need to be addressed -- Electronic signatures


marbux wrote:

> Electronic signatures are a major market requirement in commerce and in
> government. A full specification of conformance requirements necessary
> to achieve interoperability in regard to electronic signatures among
> conformant implementations of ODF and the ODF profiles contemplated by
> this TC.

I'd agree that digital signatures are really, really important issue.
However, as they are to be standardized in ODF 1.2 (as Rob said), I
wonder if there's any "official" standard for signatures in older
specifications, the one that can be used for conformance testing?

> StarOffice is presently capable of preserving electronic signatures. I
> am not sure of OOo's capability in that regard. 

OOo can do that:
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/How_to_use_digital_Signatures

However, that is between two products of very similar code base, so
there's no interoperability issues here. However! - other applications
like Lotus Symphony (based on OOo code!) and Koffice just don't know how
to handle digital signatures.  It is not a dire situation, as there are
two products (one of them FLOSS) that can do digital signatures, so if
someone has to use digital signatures they aren't stranded, but this
situation should be addressed, because there is a strong need for that
feature.

There's "Digital Signature Services v1.0" OASIS document that might
(should? must?) be used to define interop protocols for digital signatures.

Again, absence of digital signatures standard is a big show stopper for
ODF adoption by governments and other users, and should be addressed
ASAP. But not by this group.

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