As used in the Electronic Authentication of Documents Act:
A. “authenticate” means to ascertain the identity of the originator, verify the integrity of the electronic data and establish a link between the data and the originator;
B. “document” means an identifiable collection of words, letters or graphical knowledge representations, regardless of the mode of representation. “Document” includes correspondence, agreements, invoices, reports, certifications, maps, drawings and images in both electronic and hard copy formats;
C. “electronic authentication” means the electronic signing of a document that establishes a verifiable link between the originator of a document and the document by means of optical, electrical, digital, magnetic, electromagnetic, wireless, telephonic, biological, a public key and private key system or other technology providing similar capabilities;
D. “office” means the information technology management office;
E. “originator” means the person who signs a document electronically;
F. “person” means an individual or entity, including:
(1) an estate, trust, receiver, cooperative association, club, corporation, company, firm, partnership, joint venture or syndicate; and
(2) any federal, state or local governmental unit or subdivision or any agency, department or instrumentality thereof;
G. “signed” or “signature” means a symbol executed or adopted or a security procedure employed or adopted using electronic means or otherwise, by or on behalf of a person with the intent to authenticate a record; and
H. “technological neutrality” means the methods selected to carry out electronic authentication that do not require or accord greater legal status or effect to the implementation or application of a specific technology or technical specification for performing the functions of creating, storing, generating, receiving, communicating or authenticating electronic records or electronic signatures.
History: Laws 1996, ch. 11, § 3; 1999, ch. 32, § 2; 2001, ch. 69, § 2.
ANNOTATIONS
The 2001 amendment, effective July 1, 2001, deleted former Subsections A, C, D, G, H, L, M, N, O, P and Q, which contained definitions for “archival listing”, “certificate”, “digital signature”, “key pair”, “message digest function”, “private key”, “public key”, “public and private key system”, “register”, “revocation” and “secretary”, respectively, and renumbered the remaining subsections accordingly; in Subsection C, inserted “optical, electrical, digital, magnetic, electromagnetic, wireless telephonic, biological” and “or other technology providing similar capabilities”; substituted “information technology management office” for “office of electronic documentation” in Subsection D; and added Subsection H.
The 1999 amendment, effective June 18, 1999, added Subsections C, D, and H; redesignated former Subsections C to E, F to K, and M to O as Subsections E to G, I to N, and O to Q, respectively; inserted “in a public and private key system” following “means” in Subsection G; substituted “a digital signature” for “an electronic authentication” at the end of Subsections L and M; substituted “message digest function” for “secure hash code” at the end of Subsection N(2); deleted former Subsection L, which defined “record abstraction”; substituted the language beginning “a system for” to the end for “a database or other electronic structure that binds a person’s name or other identity to a public key” in Subsection O; deleted former Subsection P, which defined “secure hash code”; deleted former Subsection Q, which defined “sign” or “signing”; and made minor stylistic changes.