thawte Notaries and members of the thawte Web of Trust need to follow clear guidelines and rules to ensure a high level of assurance for the information in these certificates. These rules are binding on all thawte Web of Trust Notaries and members. Please make sure that you have read and fully understand these rules before becoming a thawte Notary or having your identity assured by a thawte Notary. If you do not follow these rules then you may be liable if people suffer damages as a consequence. These rules use arbitrary genders to describe members and thawte Notaries - they apply to both genders.

Country Specific Restrictions

You are restricted from joining this program to the extent that the laws and regulations of your country and/or jurisdictions do not allow you to participate in the thawte Web of Trust program. By joining the thawte Web of Trust program you confirm that you are not in violation of the laws and regulations of your country and/or jurisdiction.

Personal Appearance

A thawte Notary may only assign Trust Points to a member if (s)he meets the member in person, and views original copies of the member's identification documents. At least one form of photo identity must be shown to the thawte Notary. The member must provide the thawte Notary with copies of these identification documents.

Presentation of Identification Documents with Copies

A thawte Notary must confirm the identity of the member by comparing the member information in the thawte Personal Certificate System with the identification document/s presented by the member. The thawte Notary must also ensure that the copies of the identification documents presented by the member are true copies of the original documents presented by the member. The members' identification documents must include at least one photo identity document. This photo identity document must be issued by a state or governmental body, and must be nationally recognized as an acceptable form of identity. Photographs that are included in this documentation must bear a good likeness to the member. Please also review the thawte Validation Procedures for important notes regarding assurances.

At least one of the forms of identity presented must contain the identification number in the applicant's account in the Personal Certificate system.

Retention of Copies

Each thawte Notary must retain a copy of the identifying documentation used to confirm the member's identity for every assertion made by that thawte Notary.

thawte Validation Statement

The member and the thawte Notary must both sign a copy of the "Statement of Validation" provided by thawte during the identity assertion process. The thawte Notary must keep this signed statement on record for 5 years.

Confidentiality

thawte Notaries may not disclose to any party other than thawte any information received from the member during the validation process, and must take reasonable steps to keep documentation confidential.

thawte Notary Fees

thawte Notaries may charge a fee for an Identity Assertion as long as the fee charged is reflected in the Directory of thawte Notaries. A thawte Notary may not charge a different fee for an identity assertion from that given in the Directory.

Liability

A thawte Notary may be held responsible if (s)he is unable to provide thawte with copies of a member's identifying documentation upon request.

thawte Notary Trust Points

thawte may, at its sole discretion, at any time, change the number of Trust Points that a thawte Notary can assign. In the absence of such action by thawte, a thawte Notary will be able to assign between 10 and 35 Trust Points based on the number of assertions that thawte Notary has already made.

How many Trust Points can a thawte Notary give?

A new thawte Notary will be able to assign up to 10 Trust Points to any person in the system. As the thawte Notary becomes more experienced we allow her to assign more points in an identity assertion. A very experienced thawte Notary can assign 35 points. This means that it will take 10 new thawte Notaries, or 3 experienced thawte Notaries, or a combination of those two, to make a new member trusted. We judge the "experience" of the thawte Notary by the number of trust assertions (s)he has made about other members. A thawte Notary under the age of 21 will never be allowed to assign more than 10 Trust Points.