DSS TC

["jmessing" <jmessing@law-on-line.com>]

For approximately a year now I have been a member of the Digital Signature Services Techncal Committee of OASIS (DSS TC), a 
non-LegalXML TC. I have also been serving as the liasion between the CourtFiling TC and the DSS TC. The DSS TC is developing XML 
structures as a web service to sign XML documents using SAML and other recognized authentication methods for this purpose. 

It will include timestamping and digital signature protocols.

The DSS TC has a specification and has begun to distinguish a core set of protocols from profiles intended to adapt them to specific settings and requirements. One of the contexts that has been explicitly dealt with as a use case from the beginning has been court filings.

In accordance with the electronic filing processes of COSCA-NACM and their emphasis on FIPS 180, a profile has been reserved that would use a message digest coupled with an identifier to electronically sign court filings pursuant to a DSS TC profile. An alternative has also been reserved, following the recent face-to-face meeting in Las Vegas, to use a digital lock, or tamper-proof seal to protect the FIPS 180 message digest as it is transmitted or stored, in addition to or in lieu of the message digest alone.

The DSS TC requested me to make known to the TC the opportunity of helping to develop such a profile or profiles that would include input and participation by members of the TC. Without such participation, it is uncertain whether such profiles will be developed.

I encourage all interested parties to make their interest known so that an appropriate response can be formulated and made to the invitation from the DSS TC.

Best regards to all.

John Messing