From: R. A. Hettinga Subject: DCSB: Brad Hillis; Implementing State Digital Signature Laws Date: Tuesday, February 08, 2000 7:12 PM The Digital Commerce Society of Boston Presents Bradley J. Hillis Contracts and Legal Affairs, Dept of Information Services The State of Washington Implementing State Digital Signature Laws: The Washington Experience Tuesday, March 7th, 2000 12 - 2 PM The Downtown Harvard Club of Boston One Federal Street, Boston, MA Bradley J. Hillis is an ecommerce attorney for the State of Washington, which will soon announce a contract for providing state and local government with Public Key Infrastructure service under the state digital signature law, RCW 19.34. In 1998-99, Washington completed a successful pilot project using digital signatures from a company licensed under RCW 19.34. Experience has raised questions about the purpose of the law, and shown the importance of alternative methods of online transactions. This presentation is about how the State of Washington plans to accomplish e-commerce transactions without handwritten signatures and within the limitations found in the Washington digital signature law. The general law of electronic or unsigned transactions will be discussed, followed by the requirements of RCW 19.34.231 for the state to use digital signatures from licensed certification authorities. In contrast to Washington, the State of Massachusetts does not license digital signature companies. Outside of the small area of licensed digital signatures, however, Washington and Massachusetts have similar laws for ecommerce contracts. The law tends to confuse electronic signatures, digital signatures and click-through or click-wrap license agreements. Efforts to pass the Uniform Electronic Transaction Act and the Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act, reflect a desire to formalize standards for ecommerce. Mr. Hillis will explain the emerging rules for each type of online contract, and suggest methods appropriate for different levels of business risk. Forms and Certification Practice Statements, developed for Washington for use in public key encryption infrastructure, will be distributed at this talk. This meeting of the Digital Commerce Society of Boston will be held on Tuesday, March 7th, 2000, from 12pm - 2pm at the Downtown Branch of the Harvard Club of Boston, on One Federal Street. The price for lunch is $35.00. This price includes lunch, room rental, A/V hardware if necessary, and the speakers' lunch. The Harvard Club *does* have dress code: jackets and ties for men (and no sneakers or jeans), and "appropriate business attire" (whatever that means), for women. Fair warning: since we purchase these luncheons in advance, we will be unable to refund the price of your meal if the Club finds you in violation of the dress code. We need to receive a company check, or money order, (or, if we *really* know you, a personal check) payable to "The Harvard Club of Boston", by Saturday, March 4th, or you won't be on the list for lunch. Checks payable to anyone else but The Harvard Club of Boston will have to be sent back. Checks should be sent to Robert Hettinga, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 02131. Again, they *must* be made payable to "The Harvard Club of Boston", in the amount of $35.00. Please include your e-mail address so that we can send you a confirmation If anyone has questions, or has a problem with these arrangements (We've had to work with glacial A/P departments more than once, for instance), please let us know via e-mail, and we'll see if we can work something out. Upcoming speakers for DCSB are: April Andre Dubois Canadian Digital Commerce Policy May Fred Hapgood The Rise and Fall of Internet Auctions TBA Rodney Thayer Transnational Cryptography We are actively searching for future speakers. If you are in Boston on the first Tuesday of the month, are a principal in digital commerce, and would like to make a presentation to the Society, please send e-mail to the DCSB Program Committee, care of Robert Hettinga, . For more information about the Digital Commerce Society of Boston, send "info dcsb" in the body of a message to . If you want to subscribe to the DCSB e-mail list, send "subscribe dcsb" in the body of a message to . We look forward to seeing you there! Cheers, R. A. Hettinga Moderator, The Digital Commerce Society of Boston ----------------- R. A. Hettinga The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'