A little more than a week ago I posted a message here alerting others to an
interesting news item in Science on Authentication and Time-Stamping of
electronically delivered journal articles.  Today when I returned from
a week of vacation I received the attached message from Peter Graham, which
subsequently he has asked me to post here.  I think many of you will be as
interested in his additional information and comments as I was.  I assume
that his offer of an offprint is not one that he is equiped to make to very
many requestors.

Fritz Schwartz
Manager, EDI and Standards
The Faxon Company
schwartz@faxon.com
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From:   Peter Graham ("psgraham@gandalf.rutgers.edu"@PMDF@CLAVIN)
Date:   22-JUL-1993 10:05:04.00
To:     SCHWARTZ@faxon.com
Cc:     mpage@zodiac.rutgers.edu
Subj:   Authentication and Time-Stamping

From:  Peter Graham, Rutgers University Libraries

I've had forwarded to me your note to SERIALST (to which I'm not subscribed)
about digital time-stamping, based on the article in Science early this
month.  I agree fully that this is a very important technology for us; the
term I use is "intellectual preservation", which distinguishes the integrity
of intellectual content from the integrity of the medium, which presents
entirely different preservation issues.

I've written on this (including a description of the BellCore technique) in
articles which appeared early this year, e.g. "Intellectual Preservation in
the Electronic Environment", *When the Electronic Revolution Comes...*, ed.
Arnold Hirshon (ALA/ALCTS, 1993), and would be happy to send you an
offprint.  I can also provide citations (or copies) of the published
documents of Haber and Stornetta from BellCore.

The issue as I've tried to present it involves the
authentication of electronic information (very easily and unnoticeably
damaged or changed).  Electronic information may be changed
accidentally or intentionally.  If intentionally, it may be with good
intent (e.g. updates of various kinds) or with bad intent (e.g. fraud,
whether to doctor research or fiddle with financial records).  Digital
time-stamping (or other forms of hashing) don't prevent change, but
they allow the validation of information.  I.e.:  is this document the
same one that the author wrote and that the electronic footnote I just
read pointed me to?  It seems to me this is a fundamental concern for
librarians.

Preservation of printed matter has generally meant preservation of the
object, the artifact, which has satisfactorily preserved the
intellectual content.  In the electronic environment the two must be
treated separately.  The best information so far on medium
preservation is contained in Michael Lesk, _Preservation of New
Technology_ (Washington, DC:  Commission on Preservation and Access,
1992).  Intellectual preservation is only just beginning to be
realized to be an issue, and the Science article will be helpful in
getting the information out.  Scott Stornetta (one of the BellCore
authors) and I have spoken together at a couple of forums.  Next month
we both will be at the National Archives to talk on the topic.  I'm
pleased to know that the director of the Office of Science and
Technology Policy (Clinton's advisor in the White House) when informed
of the topic said he wanted to attend; they have an interest in
electronic message preservation and integrity, as you might imagine.

Whether it is this tool or another that may eventually be used I don't
know, but some form of hashing technique seems likely;  I agree that
libraries and librarians should be current on possibilities -- and
take the lead in urging the importance of the issue.

If you think any of this would be useful to SERIALST please feel free to
forward it.  Let me know if I can provide further information.
--pg

Peter Graham   psgraham@gandalf.rutgers.edu       Rutgers University Libraries
169 College Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08903    (908)932-5908 Fax:(908)932-5888