Withdrawing a declaration of will: Towards a framework for digital signature revocation

Abstract

Purpose

The objective of this paper is to investigate the legal and technical reasons why a declaration of will, denoted by a digital signature, can be cancelled and how this cancellation can be technically achieved.

Design/methodology/approach

Proposes a technical framework for establishing a signature revocation mechanism based on special data structures, the signature revocation tokens (SRT), and investigates the alternatives for disseminating the signature status information (SSI) to the relying parties.

Findings

A relying party has to take into consideration the possible existence of a signature revocation, in order to decide on the validity of a digital signature. A scheme based on a central public repository for the archival and distribution of signature revocation tokens exhibits significant advantages against other alternatives.

Originality/value

Identifies various intrinsic problems of the digital signature creation process that raise several questions on whether the signer performs a conscious and wilful act, although he/she is held liable for this action. The law faces the eventual right of the signer to claim a revocation of a previously made declaration of will, especially in cases of an error, fraud or duress.

Citation

Lekkas, D., Gritzalis, S. and Mitrou, L. (2005), "Withdrawing a declaration of will: Towards a framework for digital signature revocation", Internet Research, Vol. 15 No. 4, pp. 400-420. https://doi.org/10.1108/10662240510615173