What is a Notary?
A Notary certifies signatures on documents. That is, it assures that a signature made on a document was indeed made by the avatar making it.
The certification of a notary is 'incontrovertible', meaning that neither you, nor anyone else (including the notary), can truthfully deny a notarized signature.
The notary is not a dispute resolution service nor a mediator, though such things exist in SL (see below). The notary does not rule on whether or not a contract was adhered to or even fair. It only attests to the fact that an avatar's signature on a document was, or was not, made before the notary.
Why is this useful? While the notary doesn't supply a system of justice, it enables such systems to exist, by witnessing agreements. You can't successfully resolve disputes if people can deny they agreed in the first place.
Beyond that, a notary is a good way to ensure that everyone is on the same page. Even for an informal agreement, notarizing is way for friends to ensure that they are all agreeing to the same thing. Just writing out your agreement can help identify any areas where two parties see the details differently. Take time to ensure that your agreements are written clearly.
Please note: We do not believe that Nota Bene in Second Life fulfills the statutary requirements or obligations of a "Notary Public" as defined by any U.S. state law. While we have endeavored to make Nota Bene provide substantially the same service as a real Notary Public, it only does so with avatars in a computer simulated world, and current law doesn't cover this situation.
Zarf Vantongerloo created and runs the notary. In the interests of full disclosure, Zarf Vantongerloo is employed in RL as a software developer at Linden Lab. However, the notary was created prior to his employment, and continues to be owned and operated independent of Linden Lab. Linden Lab has no access nor rights to any of it.
How it Works
You present a document to the notary. The notary then presents the document to each person who wants to sign the document, and asks them if they want to sign it.
After everyone is done signing, and the fee is paid, the notary generates a certificate. The certificate states which document was signed, who signed it, and the details of the signing event (time and place, etc.). This certificate is then signed by the notary agent. This is called the notarization.
The certificate and notarization are presented together as a receipt. The signers of the document can take a copy of the receipt, give copies away freely, or hide them. The notary retains a copy of the receipt, though not of the document itself.
Once you have a receipt, you can check that it is a valid notarization by bringing it to the notary. This service is free. All information in the receipts is transparent. You can also check the validity of a receipt and the signatures out-of-world.
Disputes and Mediation
The group SL Mediators provides dispute resolution services in world. Mediation is a process by which parties in dispute can, with guidance, find common ground, and then work to an equitable solution.
You can choose to use mediation as the dispute resolution process by including a mediation clause in your notarized documents. This ensures that everyone agrees to the dispute resolution process up front, and that SL Mediators will have a known, signed contract from which to start.
We highly recommend SL Mediators services for contracts and agreements. SL Mediators has a desk in the Nota Bene office with more details, the mediation process, and sample language you can use in your documents.
F.A.Q.
How much does it cost?
It costs L$200 to notarize a document with one or two signatures. It costs L$75 per signature beyond the first two. A document with three signatures would cost L$275.
How do you know the signatures are real?
When an avatar touches to desk to start signing, the desk presents a dialog to that avatar. When the avatar clicks any button in the dialog other than 'Ignore', the mechanics of Second Life present to the notary the avatar that answered the dialog, and what answer they gave. In the same way that Second Life ensures that chat text is labeled with the avatar that actually said it, no avatar can answer a dialog for another.
Am I protected if someone edits the notecard after I sign it?
Yes. The document in the receipt is the version that you signed. Always refer to that version as authoratative. The notary notes and signs a digest of the document. If someone manages to alter the text of the document in the receipt, the notary will catch it.
I don't even trust the Lindens, am I safe from their tampering too?
Yes. The notarization is a signed, cryptographically safe hash. The Lindens can never alter the fact of a signature once it has been notarized.
Don't I have to trust the notary?
Yes and no. Once a signature has been notarized, even the notary cannot refute it. The only exposure is that the notary could notarize fictitious signatures. However, if a notary ever did that and was caught, it would be immediately out of business.
Since the notary both makes the notarizations and does the verification, how do we know you aren't just faking the whole thing?
The notarized receipts can be checked out of world if you want. They use publicly available crypto-systems that can be verified without the notary's help on your own computer.
I understand that the notary agent is a server off-world. Is it safe?
Yes. While the in-world to off-world communication channels (e-mail and XML-RPC) are insecure, the notary employs cryptographic protocols to ensure that communications are not tampered with.
If someone breaks a signed contract, will you enforce it?
No. But, the notary will attest to the validity or not of a signature. If needed, the notary will appear personally in SL to do this. The group SL Mediators group offers dispute resolutions services in SL that can help you in such a situation.
I'm sueing someone in RL over a SL contract. Will you come to court?
No. Since current Notary Public law doesn't cover cyber-space notaries, we wouldn't have much standing anyway. Lastly, the notary only attests that an avatar signed a document in-world. The notary makes no claim about the people in control of the avatars.