Re: Electronic Contracts

Don't know if there have been specific tests of it in courts, but, yes,
signing contracts is definitely something people want digital signatures for.
Also, anything else that requires a signature, we'd like to be able to 
sign digitally, so we can do it online instead of hauling paper around.
That's not just a cypherpunk thing, it's what a large fraction of the
business community would like to be able to do - it speeds business cycles, 
cuts ordering time, and means we don't have to keep all this paper around,
especially in storage; while the paperless office won't be reality for a while,
it would really be nice if we could store the important stuff digitally,
where it's easy to retrieve later, and save paper for transient uses like 
convenient reading, unlike the current situation where digital is for 
convenience but the important stuff is paper that has to be stored somewhere
	MIME-Insert-Video-Clip: Indiana Jones, Government Warehouse Scene.....

A certain amount of this has been done with the various telex networks;
I get the impression from somewhere that a telex can be a legal document
for things like sending purchase orders, just like paper can; it will be
interesting to see if fax acquires the same status, but forging a fax
is terribly easy, just as email is.

		Bill Stewart

Regarding "test cases" for digital signatures, not sure if this is 100%
relevant but what the hell...

In this area at least, when the UPS folk bring you a package that you
must sign for, you no longer sign on paper, but on this funky electronic
tablet.  Now granted this thing is recording your "real" signature, and
thus differs greatly, but still there may be something to this.  Not sure
where one would look for material having to do with such devices, and
their relevance to a court case, but then again no one pays me legal
consulting fees either.  >:) 

-- 
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Stanton McCandlish says:
> Regarding "test cases" for digital signatures, not sure if this is 100%
> relevant but what the hell...
> 
> In this area at least, when the UPS folk bring you a package that you
> must sign for, you no longer sign on paper, but on this funky electronic
> tablet.  Now granted this thing is recording your "real" signature, and
> thus differs greatly, but still there may be something to this.  Not sure
> where one would look for material having to do with such devices, and
> their relevance to a court case, but then again no one pays me legal
> consulting fees either.  >:) 

Caveat: I'm not a lawyer.

In common law, anything you want and intend to be your signature is
your signature. Ever work for a very big company? Ever look at your
paychecks? They are rubber stamped with someone's signature, not
signed. Still, thats perfectly legal.

In contract law, contracts do not have to be written -- being written
just means that the court has a presumption that the terms of the
contract were as written. However, you can make contracts orally if
you wish, and they are enforceable provided you can convince a court
that the contract really was made. Assuming that you sign a contract
with digital signatures, and the court can be made to understand that
the digital signatures mean no forgery was possible, its likely a
court would enforce them because the court would then have reason to
believe that both parties agreed to the contract in question.

Repeating my caveat: I'm not a lawyer.

Perry