Method and system for signing and authenticating electronic documents via a signature authority which may act in concert with software controlled by the signer

1. A computer-implemented method for verifying the authenticity of a digital signature associated with an electronic document, such that a relying party is enabled to rely on the fact that a signing party reliably signed the electronic document, comprising the steps of:

at a certification authority computer system, generating a digital certificate certifying a cryptographic key pair of a private key and a public key for a signing party;

storing the private key and the digital certificate for use when constructing a digital signature for indicating execution of a to be signed electronic document as directed from time-to-time by the signing party to create a digitally signed electronic document;

providing a computer program operative on a communications network by a communications network-connected computer used by the signing party for execution of the to be signed electronic document;

at the signing party's computer system, in response to a first action from the signing party, providing a document signing request from the signing party's computer system to the signature authority computer system, which document signing request identifies the to be signed electronic document;

at the signature authority computer system, in response to receipt of the document signing request, obtaining a copy of the to be signed electronic document;

at the signature authority computer system, forming a signature data structure that includes a hash of the to be signed electronic document, and sending the signature data structure to a trustworthy component on the signing party's computer system;

at the trustworthy component, authenticating the signing party;

at the trustworthy component, digitally signing the signature data structure with the private key of the signing party;

at the trustworthy component, transmitting the digitally signed signature data structure to the signature authority computer system as the digital signature for the to be signed document; and

at the signature authority computer system, using the digitally signed signature data structure to create a digitally signed electronic document.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising at the trustworthy component, inserting the digital certificate of the signing party into the signature data structure.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the signature authority inserts the digitally signed signature data structure into the to be signed electronic document.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the signature authority operates under a plurality of policies; and further comprising the step of inserting in the signature data structure at least an identification of the policies under which the signature authority formed the signature data structure.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the to be signed electronic document is a formatted portable electronic document and a location of the signature data structure in the to be signed electronic document is a signature field.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the communication network facilitating the steps of interaction among the signing party and the signature authority is an Internet communication network and the computer program is a network browser for the communication network.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein communication between the signature authority and the trustworthy component on the signing party's computer system is provided via an application provided to the network browser.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein the application for secure communications between the signature authority computer system and the trustworthy component on the signing party's computer system is a signed applet.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein a policy of the signature authority for forming the signature data structure is included therein by a policy for the digital certificate of the signing party.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein a policy of the digital certificate of the signing party requires the private key to be protected by a secure hardware device.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein a policy of the digital certificate of the signing party requires the private key to be used only to sign signature data structures formed by one of a plurality of approved signature authorities.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 , further comprising the steps of:

at the signature authority, digitally signing the hash of the to be signed electronic document with a signature authority digital signature and including the signature authority digital signature in the signature data structure sent to the trustworthy component on the signing party's computer system;

at the trustworthy component on the signing party's computer system, verifying the signature authority digital signature on the hash of the to be signed electronic document; and

at the trustworthy component on the signing party's computer system, checking whether the signature authority that digitally signed the hash of the to be signed electronic document is one of a plurality of approved signature authorities for the policy of the signing party's digital certificate.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

at the signature authority, including one or more parameters that define acceptable signing criteria when sending the signature data structure to the trustworthy component on the signing party's computer system;

at the trustworthy component on the signing party's computer system, signing the signature data structure for the digital signature with the private key and digital certificate that satisfy the signing criteria.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , wherein the signing criteria require the digital certificate to have issued from a specified certificate authority and have a unique serial number.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , wherein the signing criteria require the digital certificate to have predetermined roots in a validation chain thereof.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , wherein the signing criteria require the signer's digital certificate to have a policy identifier that matches a predetermined pattern.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , wherein the signature authority determines one or more signing criteria based on one or more metadata associated with the field to be signed document.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the signature authority inserts assertions about the digital signature of the signing party into the signature data structure before the signature data structure is sent to the trustworthy component on the signing party's computer system.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18 , wherein the signature authority inserts into the signature data structure a time of creation of the digital signature.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 18 , wherein a policy of the digital certificate of the signing party describes the trustworthiness of the assertions about the digital signature of the signing party.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 19 , wherein the creation time comes from a trustworthy clock maintained by the signature authority.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 21 , wherein a policy of the signature authority comprises a description of the clock as trustworthy.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the signature authority verifies receipt of the digitally signed electronic document within a predetermined period for creating the digitally signed electronic document.

24. The computer-implemented method of claim 23 , wherein a policy of the digital certificate of the signing party specifies the predetermined period for creating the digitally signed electronic document.

25. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

in response to a second action from the signing party operating the communications network-connected computer system of the signing party, sending therefrom a view request to a presentation authority computer system to view an unsigned to be signed electronic document; and

at the presentation authority computer system, in response to the view request from the signing party's computer, retrieving the to be signed electronic document, creating a facsimile of to be signed electronic document, and sending the facsimile to the signing party's computer system.

26. The computer-implemented method of claim 25 , further comprising at the signing party's computer system, displaying the facsimile of the to be signed electronic document.

27. The computer-implemented method of claim 26 , wherein the first action from the signing party corresponds to a signing of the facsimile of the to be signed electronic document.

28. The computer-implemented method of claim 25 , wherein the presentation authority further provides an application for communication between the signature authority and the trustworthy component on the signing party's computer system when sending the facsimile of the to be signed electronic document.

29. The computer-implemented method of claim 28 , wherein the facsimile of the to be signed electronic document and the application for secure communications between the signature authority computer system and the trustworthy component on the signing party's computer system are included in a frameset for displaying on the signing party's computer system.

30. The computer-implemented method of claim 25 , wherein a policy of the presentation authority for creating the facsimile of the to be signed electronic document is included therein by a policy for the digital certificate of the signing party.

31. The computer-implemented method of claim 25 , wherein the presentation authority operates under a plurality of policies; and further comprising the step of inserting in the signature data structure at least an identification of the policies under which the presentation authority created the facsimile of the to be signed electronic document.

32. The computer-implemented method of claim 31 , wherein one of the policies of the presentation authority comprises at least one of a plurality of policies under which the signature authority operates.

33. The computer-implemented method of claim 25 , wherein the signature authority operates under a plurality of policies; and further comprising the step of inserting in the signature data structure at least an identification of the policies under which the signature authority formed the signature data structure.

34. The computer-implemented method of claim 33 , wherein the presentation authority operates under a plurality of policies; and further comprising the step of inserting in the signature data structure at least an identification of the policies under which the presentation authority created the facsimile of the to be signed electronic document.

35. The computer-implemented method of claim 34 , wherein one of the policies of the signature authority comprises at least one of the plurality of policies under which the presentation authority operates.

36. The computer-implemented method of claim 25 , wherein the presentation authority inserts into the facsimile of the to be signed electronic document means for sending the document signing request.

37. The computer-implemented method of claim 25 , wherein the facsimile specifies fields of the to be signed document that can be digitally signed by the signing party.

38. The computer-implemented method of claim 25 , wherein the facsimile facilitates rendering of the to be signed electronic document on a display available to the signing party.

39. The computer-implemented method of claim 25 , wherein the facsimile designates one or more fields in the to be signed electronic document that may be edited.

40. The computer-implemented method of claim 39 , wherein the facsimile contains a means of validating changes to the editable fields.

41. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the step of storing further comprises storing the private key in cryptographic hardware.