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MyWikiBiz, Author Your Legacy — Thursday September 02, 2010

The Enforcement of Documents With E-signatures

As the influence of technology arises, the use of Internet becomes absolute. Most people nowadays convert lots of things that they do manually to be done electronically. Internet has lots of things to offer more than just sending emails, chat, and social networking. Most of the businesses nowadays are trying to transact businesses online.

Electronic signatures are once used as a sign, symbol or trademark that you may place at the end of your emails. This section sometimes includes the name and title, company logo, business address and contact information. As time passed by, the use of e-signatures created some issues of legality and authenticity. If you put digital signatures such as sound, symbol, sign or process in documents that you sent to clients, how sure you are that the documents will appear legal to the court of law?

The issue has been very important cause people knows that every agreement, contract, and document we deal with other people shall be legal. In case something went wrong, we can use the documents as evidences and materials presented in the court. And since those documents done online are much prone to fraud, there’s always doubt if the documents you used in transaction is authentic or not, resulting to doubt on the person who sent the documents.

Legality of electronic signatures is imposed in United States in federal law named Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN), 15 U.S.C 7001. This law aim to protect the dealings that have digital signatures and transacted online. The decree states that a certain signature cannot be denied on it’s legality for just being in its digital form.

E-signatures are those electronic sound, process and symbols that are normally attached or connected to a contract, files, and other documents, acclaimed by a person with the purpose of signing the particular document. Generally, the law is very broad and covers anything that appear as digital signatures.

Aside for this, Uniform Electronic transactions Act or UETA is also passed in most states giving enforcement to e-signatures if both parties agreed to do the transactions in electronic way. If the two negotiating parties tend to close a deal by doing the transaction of documents electronically, everything will be verified. Then, UETA will recognize the signature as enforceable. The statute defines electronic signature as anything that is attached or connected to the record or documents that is executed o being adopted by the one using the signature having the intention to sign the document. Signatures can be symbols, electronic sounds or process that goes along with the documents.

The legality of electronic signature has been a long debate in court. It is because there are lots of ways to create fraud in transacting documents online, making it hard to prove that a certain document is done by fraud or authentic.