Ride the Lightning

THINK OUT OF THE BOX: USE HASH VALUES FOR BATES STAMPING

September 9, 2007

For years, we have argued that hash values could operate as Bates stamps, thereby defeating the tired old argument that native format production is objectionable because it can’t be bates stamped. One admittedly genuine sticking point was that hash values are LONG. An MD5 hash has 32 alphanumeric values and SHA-1 has 40. But thanks to the dedicated work of attorney Ralph Losey, we now have a workable methodology of truncating the hash values to six places, using the first and last three values. Mathematically, this avoids collisions 98.6% of the time. It isn’t perfect – but where there is a match, it is possible to consult the underlying hash values to clear up any confusion or suggestion that data has been altered. You can download Ralph’s terrific article "HASH: The New Bates Stamp" at http://ralphlosey.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/hasharticlelosey.pdf

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