Our world is in transition from paper to electronic documents. Sonora has begun an accelerated program that could enrich all of our lives and put Mexico out in front on the world stage in the move toward a paperless society. In this program, sponsored by Williamson Software, the Sonora court system would be transformed into a completely paperless system.
Mark E. Williamson, a longtime veteran of software development from California, has joined forces with Sonora's governor, Alfonso Durazo of the Morena party. Together they aim to put in place what Mr. Williamson believes are the missing elements, and the reason so many court systems have failed in their attempts to go paperless.
"The change to paperless is failing in so many places because people are not addressing three missing elements in the transition from paper to electronic documents, especially where very high standards are required, as in a legal court system. These three elements are document identity, a member hierarchy acting with authority keys, and open source software as the standard for all component software."
That sounded like a mouthful, so we asked Mr. Williamson to break it down piece by piece and explain how it all works.
1. Document Identity
"When a document is committed to paper, it takes a solid form that is difficult to alter. It has permanence and mass, and that gives certainty to the document and its contents. Electronic documents are an entirely different kind of thing. They lack permanence and form. They are easily modified and resaved, and can take on an entirely new meaning. That makes them unreliable in their native form. The answer is the document hash.
"A hash is essentially a summary of the document, reduced to a fixed number of characters. With the SHA-512 hash, for example, it is 128 characters. A hash value for a document looks something like this:"
ee2fc435524d91f3467116252f6a91c3
5d8c1f7da9833cbf3ca269550dcc75d1
d85cdcdb32b77e970653de76d2e1908e
c10351e5d5d2d90c217c0dd0ec46024f
"This number represents the contents of the document. If anything in the document changes, this number changes completely."
In other words, electronic documents are like water: they can change, move around and shift form almost at will. The hash gives them a solid form, a fingerprint that cannot be altered without altering the number itself.
2. Member Hierarchy and Authority Keys
"On paper, we rely on the signatures of various members acting in their capacity. A judge signs an order. A lawyer signs a motion or a letter. These signatures show authorship and provide the source of authority for the document. The same is possible with cryptographic signatures, and has been for many years.
"What has been missing is a central authority to act as a hub for the exchange of these signatures. Many have tried to build such a hub, but no one had created a community-level hub for exchanging signatures until now. I am proud to be part of the DNA initiative, which is developing an international signature hub system."
3. Open Source Software as the Standard
"The third element is the software itself. A court cannot ask its citizens to trust a system that nobody is allowed to look inside. When every component is open source, anyone can inspect the code, verify that it does what it claims, and confirm that nothing is hidden. No single company owns the system, and no one can lock the court into a vendor or a price. For a justice system, which depends on public trust, that openness is not a luxury. It is a requirement."
"Taken together, the three elements fit like this: the hash proves what a document is, the authority keys prove who stands behind it, and open source software lets everyone confirm how the whole system works.
Why Mexico, and Why Now?
It is fitting that this effort is taking root in Sonora. Mexico has a deep tradition of resourcefulness, of making things work and finding a way when the easy path is closed. A state that opens its courts to this kind of transparency, and that is willing to go first, can show the rest of the world that a truly paperless justice system is possible.
Other places have tried and stalled. Perhaps what has been missing is Mexican know-how and grit.