>>Rae Cogar wrote:
Under UETA, the act states if a law requires that a record be retained, the
requirement is
satisfied by retaining an electronic records of the information in the
record which:   1)accurately reflects the information set forth in the
record after it was first generated in its final form as an electronic
record or otherwise; and 2) remains accessible for later reference...<<

Rae,

What is considered "first generated in its final form as an electronic
record or otherwise"  Would information collected in an HTML form and stored
in a database for later display "accurately reflect the information
setforth."  And if so, is there any conflict between this scenario and
Uniform Business Records Act or the Uniform Rules of Evidence.  Specifically
the requirement that the records be made at or near the time of the event.

Bill Roach, CRM, LA
Information Analyst
North Dakota ITD/Records Management
600 E Boulevard Ave
Bismarck, ND 58505
Phone: 701-328-3589
Fax: 701-328-3000
e-mail: [log in to unmask]


-----Original Message-----
From:  [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2001 3:19 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: microfilm v. PDF - electronic/digital signatures


Nancy:    You posed multiple questions in your post and I am only
attempting to address one issue, the question of electronic/digital
signatures.   There are several issues surrounding the use and
preservation of electronic/digital signatures.  Although you don't
specifically state in your message, I am assuming from your question
that these documents are sent to the clients electronically, since you
asked about electronic signatures.   I will briefly attempt to answer
this question.

First you must define which signature you are using and what is the
method used.  For instance, an electronic signature can merely be the
typed name at the bottom of the letter.   If that is all that is being
used as an electronic signature, then I would venture to say the
document would still be considered "legal" in PDF format, since that
signature would be visible and captured.   On the other hand, if you are
using other types of electronic signatures, pin/password or other
verification methods, this information would be contained in one of the
system logs or perhaps a database.

You must look to the legal requirements for the letter or document that
you are trying to preserve to determine if your preservation method
meets those requirements.     For instance, if you are looking at a
state law for electronic records and signatures, perhaps the passage of
the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act in your state, and the documents
are not excluded from being in electronic format, then you must look to
the language to determine what is required.  Under UETA, the act states
if a law requires that a record be retained, the requirement is
satisfied by retaining an electronic records of the information in the
record which:   1)accurately reflects the information set forth in the
record after it was first generated in its final form as an electronic
record or otherwise; and 2) remains accessible for later reference.

How you meet this requirement is a decision between your IT, business
and legal departments.   Some state laws also provide that for
electronic signatures, they must be attached or logically associated
with the document.   Which would lead to a conclusion that if it were
not attached, then a database would render the signature to be
associated with a particular document. All this data would have to be
included to be considered a complete record to meet the legal challenges
of evidence in litigation.

For digital signatures, you have a similar problem as the digital
signature is usually contained in a database separate from the document,
but you also have an issue of certificate management.  Certificates are
issued for each digital signature and have a usually have a limited
period of use before they expire, about 2 - 5 years.  Then new
certificates must be issued.   In order to be able to identify whether
or not a digital signature was valid at the time of signing, this
information must be retained also in order to validate the signature.

Can this information be captured in a PDF format or microfilm?   Since I
am not a technician, I cannot answer that question, however, I have been
told by technicians that all this information can be transferred to
another media, but you must be sure that it is done so accurately and
indexing is certainly an issue there.

I don't know if this has helped you, but there are a multitude of legal
issues in this area that your legal and IT people need to be aware of.
The unfortunate part is much of this information will not be seen in
litigation for several more years and we don't know what the criteria
will be when attempting to offer it into evidence, we can only use our
best judgment and provide the "best evidence". :-)

Rae Cogar, Esq.
RCS Consulting
Hamburg, NY  14075
716-646-6192
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