Sorry, I just have to ask.... Does your GTE issue (paper) letterhead
have a "DISCLAIMER: AUTHORIZED COUNTERSIGNATURE REQUIRED" imprinted on it?
-Jeff
No, Jeff, they don't. I know you're just pulling my leg while making the point
that such a disclaimer is not normally provided, but there ARE similarities to
our existing practice. For example at least some of our checks have something
similar printed on them. I don't have one in front of me, but it says something
like
"Countersignature required over $1000." And this despite the fact that the
checks
are preprinted by the check manufacturer and have a very fancy type of security
watermark on the front and back side that could not easily be counterfeited. It
also protects against erasure.
I'm sure that to many peoplewho only intend to use PEM for routine
correspondence
such as this (which probably doesn't need to be either encrypted or digitally
signed),
this type of a disclaimer will seems like a significant amount of overkill. But
I in that
case I would suggest that you talk to YOUR organization's lawyers and auditors,
and try to answer the question, "Considering the possibility of theft of keys
and other
types of fraud, why should we use such a new and untested (in the courts)
technology
AT ALL?"
I don't think our attorneys are any more conservative or technology-averse than
anywhere
else, but they are concerned about protecting the company from all sorts of
hypothetical
kinds of harm. They aren't being negative or scornful, they are asking what
seems to them
to be a perfectly reasonable question.
No, Jeff, we don't