DIGITAL DOCUMENT TIME-STAMPING WITH CATENATE CERTIFICATE

A system for time-stamping a digital document, for example any alphanumeric, video, audio, or pictorial data, protects the secrecy of the document text and provides a tamper-proof time seal establishing an author's claim to the temporal existence of the document. Initially, the document may be condensed to a single number by means of a one-way hash function, thereby fixing a unique representation of the document text. The document representation is transmitted to an outside agency where the current time is added to form a receipt. The agency then certifies the receipt by adding and hashing the receipt data with the current record catenate certificate which itself is a number obtained as a result of the sequential hashing of each prior receipt with the extant catenate certificate. The certified receipt bearing the time data and the catenate certificate number is then returned to the author as evidence of the document's existence. In later proof of such existence, the certificate is authenticated by repeating the certification steps with the representation of the alleged document, the alleged time data, and the catenate certificate number appearing in the agency's records immediately prior to the certificate number in question. Only if the alleged document is identical to the original document will the original and repeat certificate numbers match.