The human civilization has come to a point of great technological advancements. Technology has been evolving at a rapid pace since the 1990s, however, in the post pandemic world; technology has completely integrated into almost all aspects of our lives.
These developments have enabled us to deliver services all over the world. Making the whole process highly efficient, cost effective and more accessible. The same applies to Notary services.
Technological Revolution in Notary Service
The notary industry has also seen its fair share of technological improvements. Due to the pandemic organizations nationwide have implemented notarization through Remote Online Notarizations (RONs) and Remote Ink Notarizations (RIN). This had not however eliminated the need for in person signings.
These technologies existed before covid-19 pandemic however; their use was not encouraged as it is relatively easier to tamper an electronic form verses a physical form notarized with in person verification.
However, since covid-19 trigged global lockdowns, there was a sudden explosion in demand for online notarization. Therefore, many steps were taken on state level and by private companies to promote the use of remote notarization.
For today’s discussion, we are only going to focus on RON. Side Hustle Seattle does explanation videos and you can go here to get a full break down of what RON, Electronic Notary Seals and Digital Certificates are and how it all works.
What is Remote Online Notarization?
RON is the procedure of conducting a notarization act online using three of its components which are Electronic Signatures, Electronic Notary Seals and Digital Certificates.
Electronic Signatures are an electronic substitute of your handwritten signature. You need to sign your documents online with no involvement of paper before sending them across. All RON platforms offer an option to set your electronic signatures through options like drawing or uploading your actual signature.
Electronic Notary Seals is an alternative to the tradition
al rubber stamp or embosser, which resembles more to the rubber stamp ink seal. The seal contains Notary’s name, state of commission and date of commission expiration. These seals do vary slightly depending on the state.
These seals are also available online from third party options who share electronic seals in image format, which can be copied and pasted on top of the document required to be notarized.
Digital Certificates are sets of unique credentials that are bound to the identity of the certificate owners, making it possible for the receiver to verify the identity of the sender.
Why do we need Digital Certificates?
It is easier to identify tampering in a physical paper document as any signs of changes made to the signatures, date or stamp are clearly visible to naked eye. However, the same cannot be said about an electronic document file as these are easily editable, particularly as there are now millions of hackers online trying to manipulate information.
This is where digital certification plays a critical role as it provides information on whether or not the document has been modified. Furthermore, the certificate provides additional information on who the document was issued to, who the document was issued by and the validity period of the document.
With these benefits, we can say that Digital Certificates are essential for the safety and security of all parties involved in the notarization of the document.
Both EU and US have passed laws to make documents with e-signatures legally binding, therefore, it becomes all the more important to conduct due diligence through digital certification.