Digital signing legal?

[Bugz]

     Hi all. Long time no see    

I was wondering if there is any way to make up a form that can be digitally signed and legally binding. Much like when you do an online form for the tax office, or signing up for a new phone or ISP plan etc, and at the end it has a declaration stating that sending this is basically the same as signing the form in the real world.

I am not talking about having someone actually sign a form and scan it back, but just simply filling it in, with a terms and conditions section down the bottom saying lodgement of this form is equivalent to you signing a form, and constitutes a legally binding agreement, or similar.

It is something that I have been curious about for a while now, and thought I would ask here to see if anyone could shed any light on whether this would be possible for anyone other than large corporations and government departments.

Cheers
 

[DavidD]

That is more of a legal question, not an investigation question. But by definition, a contract can be anything agreed to by two parties, verbal, non-verbal (for completing a service, expecting a payment) or written.

Generally running a website, you have to agree to terms and conditions and a privacy policy before the services can be provided to you (ie. upon signing up), so that's a contract. 

I think the reason why government websites make you digitally sign a declaration is because of various government laws about making false declarations - eg. tax office making it a criminal offence, thats why you don't see private entities really doing that, but thats just my opinion.

hope that helps.

[Bugz]

Thanks for your reply David

I posted it here, as I was thinking along the lines of something like a report, or statement, or request for information, or whatever else you would need signed as an investigator,  that has to be signed by a client.

I was curious as to whether they could, for example, go to my website, access the form on it, digitally sign it, and that would be as good as their physical signature on a physical form. More to the point, if there was an issue with a client about anything, would it be just like saying "Well, here is the form they signed."

cheers

[BigGeorge]

Hi Bugz

It sounds to me like you mean having proof whether a person has seen an agreement and whether he agreed with it, is that right?

In that case it's simple and it's commonly done on websites. Very much the same as when you sign up on our forum. By ticking that you agree with the conditions, you are taken to the rest of the registration. If you don't tick it, you cannot get to it. So by virtue of the fact that you did register and you are now posting there is proof that you read the agreement and you accepted it.

Is this what you wanted?

Technically it's not difficult to do on a website.



BG

[chrisr]

posted it here, as I was thinking along the lines of something like a report, or statement, or request for information, or whatever else you would need signed as an investigator,  that has to be signed by a client.

I was curious as to whether they could, for example, go to my website, access the form on it, digitally sign it, and that would be as good as their physical signature on a physical form. More to the point, if there was an issue with a client about anything, would it be just like saying "Well, here is the form they signed."

For most intents and purposes, a digitally-made agreement has the same legal effect as a paper, signed agreement. Acceptance of website terms and conditions is one example, or entering a mobile phone contract when buying from an online telco's store (e.g. signing up for Telstra online), or even entering into a credit card contract.

The only difficulty can be proving the identity of the person who has signed - government departments can manage this risk, because they have access to definitive databases that can verify people's identity, e.g. confirming drivers licence details, passport details, medicare details etc.

It's not about whether it's legally binding or not, its more about risk mitigation - if you're happy to take your clients' instructions via  web form, and have an appropriately worded disclaimer on there requiring them to read it and accept it before submitting instructions, then you should be okay to rely on this. If you're expecting clients to have issues with this, then I wouldn't use this to rely upon - but in any event, I would recommend you seek legal advice on the binding nature of agreements made in this way.

[Bugz]

Hi again

Hey there   BG. Yes that was what I was asking. I knew the tech side of things was easy enough, but I was trying to get my head around the legalities/finer details of it. Thank you for your reply. It's what I wanted to know.

Like chrisr said, without access to a huge database and many ways to confirm identity online, such as the provision of drivers licenses and passports, and a way to verify these, there would be no way to ascertain who actually "signed" the form. This would obviously hinder some types of correspondence.

However, I can think of quite a few applications that traditionally would use a paper and pen approach, where it would be acceptable to use an online system instead.

Thank you all for your replies
Cheers

[BigGeorge]

Bugz

Not sure I understand you fully, but is the objective to give access to a user to a special section of a site, say, to show them documents etc? and make sure that only the intended client has access to it? and use an ID other than passport number or drives licence number?

If this is what you are after, then PM me as it certainly can be done.



BG