Defining Electronic Authenticity: An Interdisciplinary Journey

Since the mid-1990s, dozens of States, including those of the EU, have reformed their evidence laws so as to grant digital signature technologies the same proof value as handwritten signatures, as a mechanism for proving identity of authorship, consent to obligations, and integrity of electronic records after their transmission across time and space. Yet, several archival institutions (including the National Archives of Canada, Australia and France) have indicated they have no intention of preserving digitally signed records. This paper presents an overview of the development of the concept of digital signatures by the cryptographic research community, the process of its legal codification as evidence of contractual relations, and of its rejection by the archival community as a tool for long-term preservation of authentic records. The paper argues that acceptable definitions of “electronic authenticity” will emerge only when the relationships between technological solutions and social conventions are carefully articulated.