Legal digital electronic signature, One area of concern for users is what happens if a publisher has their certificate revoked.

When a publisher applies for a Legal digital electronic signature certificate with a certificate authority, they agree to the authority's list of terms and conditions. If the publisher breaks this agreement, they may have their signature revoked and placed on a public list of publishers whose certificates have been revoked. A publisher going out of business is not grounds for it having its certificate revoked. Operating system components that validate digital signatures will include a database of revoked signatures. These Legal digital electronic signature databases will likely be updateable via the Internet, Intranets and operating system service packs.

The way in which an operating system or application deals with files that have revoked signatures will vary depending on the file type. With most file types warning messages will be displayed and the user will be asked to decide if they want to risk using the file. The way in which fonts will be treated is still being worked out. One possibility is that fonts with revoked signatures will prompt warning messages with the user given the option to discard the font or keep it. Signatures will break if a signed font has been tampered with and such fonts would prompt a different set of warnings. The way in which fonts with Legal digital electronic signature broken signatures are handled is still being decided.

Legal digital electronic signature, The future for digital signatures.

Legal digital electronic signature, Many computer industry experts agree that we are moving towards a point where, at some time in the future, all executable programs and files will require a digital signature to function. Microsoft's Typography group will ensure that mechanisms are in place to make the transition as smooth and painless as possible for font users and developers, should it become necessary for all Legal digital electronic signature files, including fonts, to be signed.

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