Watermarking as a traceability standard.

ABSTRACT

The exponential increase in the number of electronic document exchanges in healthcare has considerably increased the risk of document drop-out or address errors. It may therefore be important to know to whom the information belongs and who produced it. This becomes a major concern when the document has been involved in processes leading to the choice of therapy and eventually in cases where patients seek damages for medical malpractice. Watermarking, which is the embedding of security elements, such as a digital signature, within a document, can help to ensure that a digital document is reliable. However, at the same time, questions arise about the validity of watermarking-based evidence. In this paper, beyond the technical aspects, we discuss the worldwide legal acceptability of watermarking and the need for its recognition as a standard according to technical characteristics that the CEN and ISO need to agree on.