Digital Signature Laws

By Jon Udell

December 22, 2000

(Digital Signature Laws :  Page 1 of 4 )

In this Article

Digital Signature Laws The Right Approach New Legal Status For Digital Record Keeping The Challenge Of Document Integrity

E-Sign did not spring fully formed from the mind of Congress. It derives from, and shares much language in common with, UETA, the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, which a majority of states have either already adopted, or are considering.

The PKI (public key infrastructure) industry has made what marketing hay it can of E-Sign. But the fact remains that, while E-Sign certainly confers a stamp of approval on PKI, this set of technologies is as complex and esoteric as anything the high-tech industry has ever created. There's a huge disconnect here. Although I'm a proponent of digital signatures, and have used and advocated them for years, PKI remains a complete mystery to most people.

Like UETA before it, E-Sign does not try to define digital signatures except in abstract and technology-neutral terms:

UETA definition of electronic signature:

(8) "Electronic signature" means an electronic sound, symbol, or process attached to or logically associated with a record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record.

E-Sign definition of electronic signature:

The term "electronic signature" means information or data in electronic form, attached to or logically associated with an electronic record, and executed or adopted by a person or an electronic agent of a person, with the intent to sign a contract, agreement, or record.

While E-Sign general seeks to avoid pre-empting states' UETA efforts, it appears to threaten at least one state -- Utah -- whose Digital Signature Act tries to spell out an explicit integration of PKI into state government.

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