Digital Signatures - Acrobat
I practice law in British Columbia. Although I use Linux on our file and
print server, I have not yet changed the several other workstations to Linux.
I like what I see in OpenOffice and have plans to switch the support staff
over to the windows version of that package and then, if that works out, go
to an all Linux network.
Suddenly though, there is a problem. Our Law Society and the provincial
government have developed a new system for land title registrations
( http://srmwww.gov.bc.ca/landtitle/EFS_web_site/) and for corporate registry
filings ( http://srmwww.gov.bc.ca/landtitle/EFS_web_site/)
The Land Title system require digital signatures and use pdf format files for
documents submitted. I am not sure at this point whether the Corporate
Registry requires digital signatures. The use of Acrobat Standard v6 is
required for Land Titles and it is only available in MSWindows. See
http://www.juricert.com/j2a/efs.htm.
Generally the various registries do not seem to recommend use of anything but
Windows and Mac software:
https://www.bconline.gov.bc.ca/system_req.html
I am wondering whether any others in the Debian-Lex group have dealt with
these sorts of issues before and in particular whether there is Linux
software capable of editing pdf files and attaching a digital signature the
same way that Acrobat Standard does.
I suspect that this sort of authentication will be required by various
registries as this sort of interaction with government grows. It is
something we ought to keep in mind as Debian-Lex is developed
--
Ken Walker
http://lunar.ca
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