There’s a basic question that we all gloss over about written electronic communications. It’s a question that’s so profound, Plato might ponder it for years if he were alive today. And if we really did question it, who knows? We might be shocked at what we found.
How do we know who we’re really talking to?
I remember sending my first few emails. I remember calling that person later and actually asking: “Did you get my email? Tell me what it said.” I wanted proof that I had sent something to the person I’d intended and that the communication had come through, unchanged, and had arrived where I’d expected.
Now, I’m not a conspiracy guy, but much like Phil Hartman’s Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer (look it up), I wondered if little demons got inside my PC and typed it. I thought it was magic. And in a way it’s just like a magician’s trick. Just for a moment, we believe. I suppose it was the same when the first mailman showed up at people’s houses. The response was, “Can I really trust this guy to take my important message to my family across the country?”
All of that, of course is ancient history. We believed then and we believe now, so much to the point that we trust the Intranet with our money. It hardly seems amazing. But each day, we’re taking that trust to new levels. We now trust a simple box with an “X” in it as someone else’s signature.
In my Intranet travels, I came across something a verification called “e-verify.” E-Verify is an Internet-based system that allows businesses to determine the eligibility of their employees to work in the United States. Used by the U.S. citizenship and Immigration service, it’s now a way to prove your citizenship.
Now, I’m not knocking the system. In fact, as a tool for HR professionals, I think it’s great. And it’s not like people haven’t figured out a way to defraud the government. But how do we know, when someone electronically sign those contracts on the other end that it’s really the person that’s supposed to be checking the “X.” Where the proof?
Regardless of whether or not you know the person signing the contract at the end of a table, it’s pretty easy to prove a signature is real in a court of law. But how do we prove we did our due diligence if it’s just an “x” and an IP address. Unless you have an actual photo of the x-clicking, there’s no proof, right?
Well, sort of.
In 2000, President Clinton digitally signed the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN Act). It says that “a signature, contract, or other record relating to such transaction may not be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form; and (2) a contract relating to such transaction may not be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability solely because an electronic signature or electronic record was used in its formation.”
So what IS an electronic signature? The same law says it’s “an electronic sound, symbol, or process, attached to or logically associated with a contract or other record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record.”
I couldn’t find an actually court case disputing an electronically signed document because it seems that most people are honest in admitting that they did in fact electronically sign a document. The trouble has reared its ugly head when people make their web print too small or hide the fine print in some place that is less than obvious.
If you find something, post it in the comments below. I’d love to read it. For more reading, I recommend this blog from Adobe. Either way, I think before we give up our signatures completely, there will have to be more proof that the signer is the signer, whether it’s magic or not.
But just in case, the next time you send a email to someone, maks sure you know what you’re sending and who you’re sending it to. It just may be used against you in a court of law.
By the way, I’m not a lawyer and this isn’t legal advice!