How the ESign Act Makes Esignatures Work

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How the ESign Act Makes Esignatures Work
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As weve previously covered the difference
between electronic signatures and digital
signatures, using an esignature to sign
agreements, contracts and similar sorts of
documents is a great way to save time and money.
However, its all well and good saying that, but
you need to know some of the reasons why an
esignature really is an accepted way to sign
documents. A signature, as youll know is a
legal entity. It needs to carry weight in a
courtroom so it can be used in any dispute over
an agreement. Notarized, hard copy signatures
have had this ability since the dawn of writing.
However, an electronic version of a signature
needs the same sort of legal validation. To give
something validity, there has to be some sort of
law recognizing it as such. In the U.S. this
legal weighting was given recognition in the form
of an electronic signatures act
called ESIGN. ESIGN stands for Electronic
Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act,
which was enacted into law in 2000. This law
allows electronically signed documents to have
the same legal status as hard copy signed
documents. The act covers both U.S. interstate
and foreign transactions based on an esignature.
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There must be more to ESIGN than this? There is
a signed electronic document needs more than just
a signature to give it that all-important legal
weight. Lets have a look at what a legally
binding electronically signed document actually
is The electronic signatures act (ESIGN) sets
out exactly what an esignature can comprise of.
In the act, it states that an electronic
signature   means 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. This is pretty broad statement, so as
long as the signature type itself is covered we
then need to conform to the rest of the
requirements of the ESIGN act to make the
document legal. The whole point of the electronic
signatures act and its respective clauses is to
ensure that an electronic signature solution
carries out certain basic process requirements
that will mean that the signature it has applied
to a document will stand up in a court of law.
This translates to the following
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• Secure Retention of Signed DocumentsThe act
  requires that the esignature software is capable
  of retaining the document in its original form in
  a secure repository so that all stakeholders have
  access. The ApproveMe esignature will identify
  immediately any changes to a document,
  invalidating the signature and notifying the
  stakeholders of the change.
• Security and authentication. For a signature to
  hold any muster in court it needs to be proven
  beyond doubt that it was actually signed by the
  person it represents. This can be done using
  authentication at the time of signing. ApproveMe
  offers a number of different methods to tie the
  signature to the signer. This includes email
  access, knowledge-based questions, and receipt of
  an SMS code.
• Consent The ESIGN act specifies that during a
  B2C workflow process of a document, provision for
  the recipient to be able to consent to the
  electronic process and to have an alternative
  non-electronic option available if they so wish.
  However an esignature is still valid in a court
  of law as long as recipients have access to the
  electronic documents and have some sort of audit
  of the signature process and workflow, the
  electronic signature software is in compliance.
  ApproveMe offers a full audit trail of document
  lifecycle workflow and signature events, with
  timestamps. See section 101/c of the ESIGN act.

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• Auditability Continuing from above, the
  esignature process must be auditable. This means
  that each part of the lifecycle of the document,
  from creation to multi-party signature
  transactions, should be available to all
  concerned parties. Audits show that each party
  has knowledge of where the process is at any
  point. ApproveMe makes a detailed audit trail
  available from your own online website to all
  stakeholders involved in the signing of an
  agreement. There is then no excuse for not
  knowing where a document is in the process.
• Nonrepudiation Nonrepudiation is really the
  pillar upon which a digital signature stands. It
  is used to prove, irrevocably, that a signature
  is true and cannot be denied. It is usually
  achieved by using a mix of authentication
  (mentioned above) and signature- document
  integrity. The integrity part is achieved using a
  special type of encryption known as a hash. The
  hash is tied to the signature and if anything
  changes in a document once the signature is
  applied, the hash will change and will show as an
  invalid signature.
• Is there any catch with esignatures?
• There are products that allow an esignature to be
  applied to Microsoft Word and PDF for example,
  but as weve seen above, to comply with ESIGN you
  need to go further than a signature.

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• You need to have a system that makes it easy to
  take a contract, etc. and pull them into a
  workflow process built around esigning. Unless
  you take a holistic approach to electronic
  signing then you wont be able to know, for sure,
  that that contract youre signing is actually
  watertight.
• ApproveMe is an ESIGN complaint product, check
  out how it can make your workflow processes easy
  and efficient, letting you get on with your
  workday. https//www.approveme.com/
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• Article Resource https//www.approveme.com/e-sign
  ature/how-the-esign-act-makes-esignatures-work/