Digitally sign Structural drawing

[DoubleStud]

When you use digital signature from Adobe or Bluebeam, what do you typically do? Do you put your PE stamp blank without your signature or date and put this certificate next to it? Do you still add your signature on top of the stamp and add this next to it? Do you still add signature and date and put this next to it? What say you?

 

[XR250]

Again, no verification for that order is needed. I have never understood some of the strict 3rd party verification licensing requirements that some states have implemented.

I am pretty sure for my state, they just did it because other states had. Apparently, one of the local engineers brought it to their attention as he was sick of hand sealing his drawing sets. I don't know the whole story but it sucks nonetheless.

 

[XR250]

'm with you. For my CAD seal I just modified the text of the cad file someone else had been using for 20 years

Mine is just a scan of my seal and signature that I add a CAD date to.

 

[dauwerda]

Most states have licensing information available to the public, so you can look up to see if a license is active and see if there are any enforcement actions taken against the licensee. It would take a person who wishes to commit fraud about 2min to find a licensed engineer in the state needed, pull their name and license number, and submit it to any number of online stores that produce physical and CAD stamps. Again, no verification for that order is needed. I have never understood some of the strict 3rd party verification licensing requirements that some states have implemented.

It seems to me you just explained why some states have strict 3rd party verification signing requirements. In a world where everything can be so easily duplicated, this is the one item they believe can make it a bit harder to commit fraud.

If the digital signature isn't 3rd party verified, said fraud committer can simply create a signature matching the name in Bluebeam. With 3rd party verified, you are actually proving that your name/identity match that of the signature. Which honestly could also probably be fairly easy to scam, but it is one more step and expense that might inhibit some from attempting it.

I'm not sure that I'm for it, but I do understand it.

 

[Lutfi]

Can someone who uses this third-party verification software provide a name/link for what they use?

I have been using Entrust. Her is a link to their web site: https://www.entrust.com/

 

[Lutfi]

I went with identrust after reading some threads on here. They've got a few different levels of verification/cost but if you tell them you're just looking for the Florida PE licensure verification, someone pointed me to exactly what i needed.

My current certificate will expire in few months and they are raising their fees. For cost comparison, before I renew, would you tell me which one they pointed you to? Their website and selections do not have FL board of engineers.

 

[lexpatrie]

I used something called Banjo for about 3 years, it was an Acrobat plug in. Then Acrobat changed to requiring a full version to get Banjo to work and I dropped it. I also got a lot of grumpy attorneys who had to download the "reader" for Banjo to get it to print correctly. The beauty of Banjo was it would say "unverified" if you didn't verify it, and if it was altered, it would say "not valid", or something similar, so you knew if the digital file (PDF) had been tampered with.

I'm not talking about how easy it is now to get a seal and a license number, I mean some states require you to keep the physical seals secured. Obviously our New York Architect loaned his seal to that firm.

As a side note, at least one state (Kansas?) (Maybe it was Missouri or Oklahoma) wants you to submit a signature sample for retention. I got feedback that I wasn't doing it correctly so it took two tries and yeah, somebody was paying attention. Had to do with the middle name/middle initial on my stamp and me not signing the middle intial or middle name on the handwritten signature. So it's more likely they can detect a forged signature, but somebody sufficiently committed can get one of those from an old PDF and make a go of it.

Look Out for Engineering-related Forgeries - Florida Board of Professional Engineers

Here are a few examples of what lengths people will go to create or forge an engineering seal, which is a great indicator that the more security you can attach to your professional identification, the better.

fbpe.org

https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/14311ri/just_learned_my_employer_has_been_using_a

The child of a licensed engineer continued to use their parent’s seal and signature to perform work after the licensed parent died.
Sounds like this one:

 

[TheDW]

My current certificate will expire in few months and they are raising their fees. For cost comparison, before I renew, would you tell me which one they pointed you to? Their website and selections do not have FL board of engineers.

I've got a 'Identrust Global Common Basic Assurance' certificate and it was $81 last year. Haven't gotten around to renewing so I am not sure if they have raised the cost