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So you're saying the signature itself is irrelevant? It's just an elaborate checkbox? The question then is how do you prove I was the guy who checked the box?

xnyan 7y ago
It’s sort of is actually. What really matters is the providence of the approval, the adult trail or whatever you want to call it. You are creating a record of when and that you agreed to something and the signature is an artifact of that agreement. A signature is somewhat harder to take them and checking a checkbox and can be somewhat more easily traced back to the signatory, so it’s probably somewhat better than a checkbox.
- loopdoend 7y ago
  Audit trail... see also companies like Jornaya that specialize in making any form interaction auditable for consent to receive marketing.
- oneplane 7y ago
  So in hipster terms: it's a paper blockchain that isn't immutable and has no real identity ;-)
  - edmundsauto 7y ago
    And is pretty easy to forge collisions.
  - Spivak 7y ago
    I mean it's just a paper record. It's existence alone doesn't necessarily prove anything on its own. It's when you're making a case to a judge that you didn't buy 1700 rolls of toilet paper they can say bring it out and say "Yes you did and we have your signature." You're free to counter and say it's a forgery just as you would be to counter and say someone stole your private key. But the point of a signature in particular is that it's supposed to signal considered intent rather than mindlessly checking a box or being rushed and saying "sure sure whatever." We pop up dialogs to ask users for confirmation before doing dangerous actions. What's wrong with the paper equivalent?
jabroni_salad 7y ago
Actually yes. You can mark with an X, and that was somewhat common when the literacy rate wasn't as good as it is now. The answer to your last question is to have witnesses, either in person or proxied via a notary.
cachvico 7y ago
That's what a notary does; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notary

xnyan 7y ago

It’s sort of is actually. What really matters is the providence of the approval, the adult trail or whatever you want to call it. You are creating a record of when and that you agreed to something and the signature is an artifact of that agreement. A signature is somewhat harder to take them and checking a checkbox and can be somewhat more easily traced back to the signatory, so it’s probably somewhat better than a checkbox.

loopdoend 7y ago
Audit trail... see also companies like Jornaya that specialize in making any form interaction auditable for consent to receive marketing.
oneplane 7y ago
So in hipster terms: it's a paper blockchain that isn't immutable and has no real identity ;-)
- edmundsauto 7y ago
  And is pretty easy to forge collisions.
- Spivak 7y ago
  I mean it's just a paper record. It's existence alone doesn't necessarily prove anything on its own. It's when you're making a case to a judge that you didn't buy 1700 rolls of toilet paper they can say bring it out and say "Yes you did and we have your signature." You're free to counter and say it's a forgery just as you would be to counter and say someone stole your private key. But the point of a signature in particular is that it's supposed to signal considered intent rather than mindlessly checking a box or being rushed and saying "sure sure whatever." We pop up dialogs to ask users for confirmation before doing dangerous actions. What's wrong with the paper equivalent?

jabroni_salad 7y ago

Actually yes. You can mark with an X, and that was somewhat common when the literacy rate wasn't as good as it is now. The answer to your last question is to have witnesses, either in person or proxied via a notary.

cachvico 7y ago

That's what a notary does; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notary