Projection engineering (Sept 1929-Nov 1930)

Projection Engineering, June, 1930 Page 21 Radio Vouches for Authenticity of Signature By S. R. Winters Telegraphed Photograph of Personal Signatures Recognized As Authentic WHEN facsimile transmission and reception by radio have gained widespread usage, the validity of a signature to a message will not be attached as lacking authenticity. A recent noteworthy instance at point was the precedent of the substitution of power of attorney by radio in Colombia, South America. This unique legal procedure of a lawyer acting by remote radio control was attacked, although unsuccessfully, on the grounds that the signature of the South American consul, at New York City, with whom the papers were filed for radio transmission, was not authenticated. Even the objection could have been avoided had the exact signature been duplicated at the receiving point — an accomplishment of radio facsimile transmission and reception. The decision of the Colombian Supreme Court in upholding the substitution of power of attorney by radio was in the case of an individual presenting a written demand, on Colombian official stamp paper, before the Consul of South America, who was located in New York City. His demand, in brief, was that a substitution of power of attorney in favor of two other parties be sent by the consul, through the medium of radio, to the Minister of Foreign Relations of Colombia. This applicant signed the power of attorney in the presence of the consul and, after filing the original copy, the text was flashed to Colombia by radio. This unusual procedure was attacked on two points — that it did not conform to the law which provides that powers to sue may be filed with either the political or judicial authorities at the residence of the grantor and also the validity of the signature was questioned. The latter objection, however, was not sustained — the Colombian Supreme Court ruling that such authentication was unnecessary. Furthermore, we are told by C. J. Junkin, chief of the division of commercial laws of the United States Department of Commerce, that the court maintained that there was sufficient authentication when the radio message was forwarded through the office of the minister of foreign affairs and that this official, in turn, sent the document to the court, with the assurance that it originated in the consular office at New York. Original Copy Retained And, strange as it may seem, as a further conquest to the general credit of radio, we are reminded that the original of this document was kept on file in the office of the Colombian consul general at New York. And, even stranger, neither the original nor the authenticated copy has yet been forwarded from New York to Co-1 lombia. In other words, the dots and dashes comprising this radio message have been accepted legally as sufficient within themselves to effect a grant of power of attorney. "Thus," we are reminded by the Department of Commerce, "a novel and efficient way of transmitting the authority essential to represent a party in a Colombian court has been established by interpretation of law." If the wireless dots and dashes can act as a lawyer, by remote radio control, what even greater measure of accomplishment may we reasonably expect of facsimile transmission and reception? It is potentially capable of not only conveying photographic form of the body of the message but of exactly duplicating the signature of the sender at the receiving station. Faithful authenticity of both text and signature is thus guaranteed. To the contrary, the sense of the text as well as the validity of the signature of an ordinary radio message could be so distorted by errors as to completely nullify its original intent and meaning. Messages in Photographic Form Thus, because of the relative freedom of errors in facsimile transmission, we find military and civilian interests courting every possible method of sending and receiving radio messages in photographic form — when the copy at the receiving point is an exact duplicate of that originating at the sending station. Both the Army and Navy have investigated and experimented with the various methods of facsimile transmission and reception by radio — seeking to appropriate them to their own peculiar uses if they merit adoption. For instance, we are told that a military general would no longer have to worry about the enemy counterfeiting the use of his name — ■ his signature in photographic form would testify to its own genuineness. Similarly, a naval commander would not be confronted with the perplexities of orders gone awry because the authenticity of his signature had not been vouchsafed. Bankers, business men, jurists, and other civilian classes may well watch the progress of facsimile radio and embrace its future opportunities. Bank checks have already been transmitted between London and New York City ; Christmas greetings have been sent between New York and San Francisco, faithful in descriptive detail of the season ; Uncle Sam has used facsimile machines in sending and receiving official orders from the Post Office Department for execution by postal employees flying the air-mail routes ; and important business documents have been exchanged between widely separated sections of the country. And, the present extensive experiments in the sending and receiving of motion pictures and sketches by radio will fully justify all their cost and effort if they can appreciably further the science of facsimile radio transmission and reception. S. M. P. E. FORMS NEW YORK SECTION On the evening of March 6, about one hundred and fifty members of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers met at the Engineering Societies Building, New York, for the purpose of establishing a New York section of the Society. Mr. J. I. Crabtree, president, served as chairman of the meeting. The election of officers for the section resulted in the following selections ; Chairman, M. W. Palmer ; Secretary-Treasurer, D. E. Hyndman, and Managers, T. E. Shea and M. C. Batsel. The geographical boundaries of the New York Section were defined by the board of governors as an area enclosed within a circle having a radius of 50 miles from Times Square. With the formation of the New York Section, it will be possible for the eastern members to become better acquainted with each other and the work of the society.