{"title":"The authenticity crisis","authors":"Bart Jacobs","doi":"10.1016/j.clsr.2024.105962","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Authenticity of information is a term with a clear meaning, not in law, but in the area of information security. There, it involves two aspects, called source-authenticity and message-authenticity; they guarantee certainty about the origin of information, and about its integrity. Authenticity differs from veracity: whether information is true (holds) or not is independent of its authenticity. The authenticity crisis described in the title of this paper refers to the destabilising impact of the lack of authenticity of online information, for instance in fake news. The paper proposes systematic use of digital signatures to guarantee authenticity. A crucial point is that authenticity may be organised via technical means (namely via digital signatures), whereas veracity can not. Authenticity-guarantees make institutions recognisable online and provide people with useful tools for making their own credibility judgements.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51516,"journal":{"name":"Computer Law & Security Review","volume":"53 ","pages":"Article 105962"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0267364924000293/pdfft?md5=9bddb65dffd44ebce7817dc2b1276590&pid=1-s2.0-S0267364924000293-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Computer Law & Security Review","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0267364924000293","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"LAW","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Authenticity of information is a term with a clear meaning, not in law, but in the area of information security. There, it involves two aspects, called source-authenticity and message-authenticity; they guarantee certainty about the origin of information, and about its integrity. Authenticity differs from veracity: whether information is true (holds) or not is independent of its authenticity. The authenticity crisis described in the title of this paper refers to the destabilising impact of the lack of authenticity of online information, for instance in fake news. The paper proposes systematic use of digital signatures to guarantee authenticity. A crucial point is that authenticity may be organised via technical means (namely via digital signatures), whereas veracity can not. Authenticity-guarantees make institutions recognisable online and provide people with useful tools for making their own credibility judgements.
期刊介绍:
CLSR publishes refereed academic and practitioner papers on topics such as Web 2.0, IT security, Identity management, ID cards, RFID, interference with privacy, Internet law, telecoms regulation, online broadcasting, intellectual property, software law, e-commerce, outsourcing, data protection, EU policy, freedom of information, computer security and many other topics. In addition it provides a regular update on European Union developments, national news from more than 20 jurisdictions in both Europe and the Pacific Rim. It is looking for papers within the subject area that display good quality legal analysis and new lines of legal thought or policy development that go beyond mere description of the subject area, however accurate that may be.