[cabfpub] Ballot 141 – Elimination of EV Insurance Requirement; Financial Responsibility for Mis-Issued Certificates

[Jody Cloutier]

I abstain. 

 

From: public-bounces at cabforum.org [mailto:public-bounces at cabforum.org] On
Behalf Of kirk_hall at trendmicro.com
Sent: Monday, December 01, 2014 10:16 AM
To: CABFPub (public at cabforum.org)
Subject: [cabfpub] Ballot 141 - Elimination of EV Insurance Requirement;
Financial Responsibility for Mis-Issued Certificates

 

Ballot 141 - Elimination of EV Insurance Requirement; Financial
Responsibility for Mis-Issued Certificates 

The following motion has been proposed by Kirk Hall of Trend Micro and
endorsed by Robin Alden of Comodo and Dean Coclin of Symantec.

Purpose

The existing insurance requirements of EV Guidelines Section 8.4 were
intended to help assure the public that CAs would be financially
responsible, but the requirements for Commercial General Liability and
Professional Liability / Errors & Omissions insurance are not well suited
for this purpose and do not apply to DV and OV certificates.  

The current insurance requirements should be replaced by other, more
effective financial responsibility requirements that are more directly
focused on financial responsibility for potential harm to subscribers and
relying parties from mis-issued certificates of all types.  At present, CAs
are permitted to limit their potential liability to subscribers and relying
parties to $2,000 per EV certificate under EV Guidelines Section 18 and $0
per DV and OV certificate under Baseline Requirements Section 18.1.

This ballot (1) deletes the current EV insurance requirements at EV
Guidelines Section 8.4, and (2) amends the EV Guidelines and the Baseline
Requirements so that CAs are permitted to limit their potential liability to
subscribers and relying parties to $10,000 per EV certificate, $5,000 per OV
certificate, and $2,000 per OV certificate.  This ballot does not otherwise
change whatever legal liability a CA would or would not have for its
certificates under applicable law.

-- MOTION BEGINS --

1.  EV Guideline 8.4 is deleted.

2.  EV Guideline Section 18 is amended to read as follows:

18. Liability and Indemnification

CAs MAY limit their liability as described in Section 18 of the Baseline
Requirements except that a CA MAY NOT limit its liability to Subscribers or
Relying Parties for legally recognized and provable claims to a monetary
amount less than two ten thousand US dollars per Subscriber or Relying Party
per EV Certificate.

A CA's indemnification obligations and a Root CA's obligations with respect
to subordinate CAs are set forth in the Baseline Requirements.

3. Baseline Requirements Section 18.1 is amended to read as follows:

18.1 Liability to Subscribers and Relying Parties 

If the CA has issued and managed the Certificate in compliance with these
Requirements and its Certificate Policy and/or Certification Practice
Statement, the CA MAY disclaim liability to the Certificate Beneficiaries or
any other third parties for any losses suffered as a result of use or
reliance on such Certificate beyond those specified in the CA's Certificate
Policy and/or Certification Practice Statement. If the CA has not issued or
managed the Certificate in compliance with these Requirements and its
Certificate Policy and/or Certification Practice Statement, the CA MAY seek
to limit its liability to the Subscriber and to Relying Parties, regardless
of the cause of action or legal theory involved, for any and all claims,
losses or damages suffered as a result of the use or reliance on such
Certificate by any appropriate means that the CA desires. If the CA chooses
to limit its liability for Certificates that are not issued or managed in
compliance with these Requirements or its Certificate Policy and/or
Certification Practice Statement, then the CA SHALL include the limitations
on liability in the CA's Certificate Policy and/or Certification Practice
Statement.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, a CA MAY NOT limit its liability
to Subscribers or Relying Parties for legally recognized and provable claims
to a monetary amount less than two thousand US dollars per Subscriber or
Relying Party per DV Certificate or less than five thousand US dollars per
Subscriber or Relying Party per OV Certificate.

-- MOTION ENDS --

The review period for this ballot shall commence at 2200 UTC on Monday, 1
December 2014, and will close at 2200 UTC on Wednesday, 8 December 2014.
Unless the motion is withdrawn during the review period, the voting period
will start immediately thereafter and will close at 2200 UTC on Wednesday,
15 December 2014. Votes must be cast by posting an on-list reply to this
thread.

A vote in favor of the motion must indicate a clear 'yes' in the response. A
vote against must indicate a clear 'no' in the response. A vote to abstain
must indicate a clear 'abstain' in the response. Unclear responses will not
be counted. The latest vote received from any representative of a voting
member before the close of the voting period will be counted. Voting members
are listed here:  <https://cabforum.org/members/>
https://cabforum.org/members/

In order for the motion to be adopted, two thirds or more of the votes cast
by members in the CA category and greater than 50% of the votes cast by
members in the browser category must be in favor. Quorum is currently nine
(9) members- at least nine members must participate in the ballot, either by
voting in favor, voting against, or abstaining.

 



 
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