This page is not intended to be a comprehensive list of electronic records and signature or digital signature material. Rather, items on this page are resources that the E-CT-Filing Project has used over the last several years and found to be of exceptional quality.

For additional resources, see the Baker and McKenzie E-Commerce Law website .

Charles R. Merrill, What Lawyers Need to Know About the Internet: A Cryptography Primer , 443 PLI/PAT 187 (June 5, 1996).

This article explains why non-technical business lawyers should make the effort to learn something about cryptography, and to introduce some terminology and simple concepts as a groundwork for understanding how cryptography works.

Ellison and B. Schneier, Ten Risks of PKI: What You're Not Being Told About Public Key Infrastructure, Computer Security Journal, v 16, n1, 2000, pp. 1-7

Document discussing problems that PKI does not solve and PKI vendors do not like to mention.

Phillip Zimmerman, Pretty Good Privacy, Public Key Encryption for the Masses, PGP User's Guide, Volume I: Essential Topics , June 14, 1993.

PGP is encryption software that can be downloaded from the Internet. The encryption key is robust. Once information is encrypted by PGP, it can not be sent abroad. This link takes you to the PGP Manual where there is an introduction, quick overview, and explanation of how the software works.

The mission of the XML Signatures Workign Group is to develop an XML compliant syntax used for representing the signature of Web resources and portions of protocol messages (anything referencable by a URI) and procedures for computing and verifying such signatures.

Tim Bray, James Clark, James Tauber, Canonical XML , July 1999.

W3C Recommendation of XML syntax on Canonical XML. Canonical XML is any XML document that is part of a set of XML documents that are logically equivalent within an application context, but which vary in physical representation based on syntactic changes permitted by XML 1.0.

Richard D. Brown, Digital Signatures for XML, Globeset, Inc., June 1999

Internet draft of proposed standards for RFC defining syntax and procedures for the computing, verifying and encoding digital signatures using XML. The standards outline digital signature concepts, principles, syntax, supported algorithms, code examples and security considerations.

Paul H. Arne, New Wine in Old Bottles: The Developing Law of the Internet, 416 PLI/PAT 9

Article provides a history on the evolution of the internet and discusses the internet's legal implications.

These compilations of electronic records and signatures and digital signature and PKI resources are the best on the Internet. Great praise goes to Thomas J. Smedinghoff, Baker and McKenzie, for starting and maintaining this collection.

A. Michael Froomkin, The Essential Role of Trusted Third Parties in Electronic Commerce , 75 OR. L. Rev. 49 (Spring 1996)

White paper outlining private certificate authority cryptographic key, digital signature, digital certificate, and internet fraud issues.

Throughout 1998 and 1998 and periodically in 2000 and 2001, the Georgia State E-CT-Filing Project has worked closely with the National Automated Clearing House Association's ("NACHA") Internet Council.

In 1998 and 1999, Winchel 'Todd' Vincent acted as drafter and reporter for NACHA's Certificate Authority Ratings and Trust Task Force's ("CARAT") "Guidelines for Pilots Utilizing Identity-Based Public Key Certificates." The Guidelines are intended to help organizations draft certificate policies for closed but interoperable public key infrastructure (PKI) projects.

A. Michael Froomkin, The Metaphor Is the Key: Cryptography, The Clipper Chip, and The Constitution , 143 U. PA. L. Rev. 709 (January 1995)

Document outlining the encryption standards, problems regarding the escrowed encryption proposal and key escrow constitution issues.

A. Michael Froomkin, It Came from the Planet Clipper: The Battle Over Cryptographic Key "Escrow" , U. CHI. LEGAL F. 15 (1996)

Document provides a discussion of cryptographic export control issues and the evolving goals of U.S. cryptography policy.

Types of Electronic Documents and Signatures, Digital Signature Task Force, July 7, 1998.

Document outlining types of electronic documents and electronic signature terms.

Digital Signature Task Force, Invalidate the Beeps and Chirps Case, Department of Transportation v. Norris, 222 Ga. App. 361, 474 S.E. 2d (1996).

Memo arguing the "Beeps and Chirps" case should be invalidated.

Government of Canada Public Key Infrastructure Project , Government of Canada

Guidance document outlining the implementation of Canada's PKI infrastructure. The document was developed by the Government of Canada Public Key Infrastructure Project: a key initiative established to meet the security requirements of federal electronic service delivery, promote the information technology industry and guarantee Canada's role as a key global player in e-commerce.