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In my experience digital signatures are not widely used in “business processes” facilitated by people sending around PDFs. Most are signed with a pen and scanne
by sjy 6y ago
In my experience digital signatures are not widely used in “business processes” facilitated by people sending around PDFs. Most are signed with a pen and scanned, or signed by embedding an image. Such signatures have value as a signal of the intent to form a contract, even though it is well known that they do not guarantee authenticity or non-repudiation. Digital signatures don’t add much unless the signer publishes their public key and can prove that a new key with their name on it is inauthentic, and the authenticity of the message cannot be inferred from the surrounding circumstances.
- rietta 6y agoI can attest to the same. I've signed security contracts with government agencies by taking their PDF, opening in in Apple Preview and attaching image of my signature, and sending back. Same with Xournal in Linux. This is how real world, big money contracts get signed. The email history probably attests more to the bonofides of the document than the document itself. It's up to the signers to spot differences visually. Another tactic is contracts signed by another authorizing action like "your check is as good as your signature language" or "Under the U.S. Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA), this Agreement is executed electronically when both parties agree via e-mail, an Internet web page, or other electronic means and the Client pays the deposit as set forth in..." A simple email saying I agree is acceptable under US law. No cryptographic PDF features necessary.
- jdhawk 6y agoPreview's signature import via WebCam makes it even easier. I'd never heard of Xournal, thanks!
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- floatboth 6y agoFor business, you'd usually use the government's PKI for authenticity.
- izacus 6y agoI worked with PDF libraries professionally and we had plenty of customers that requested (and paid) such fuctionality for their business processes. Also note that those "hand signed" PDFs tend to not hold up to legal scrutiny unless they're also digitally signed.
- sjy 6y agoI'm not sure what jurisdiction you are from but this is certainly not how it works in any legal system I've heard of. In this article published by an Australian law firm [1], the "electronic signatures" routinely used in commerce are clearly distinguished from true "digital signatures" in footnote 1. Digital signatures are only convincing if you understand how they work, and most people executing transactions don't. [1] https://www.allens.com.au/globalassets/pdfs/insights/xmedia/insightsmarxvii.pdf https://www.allens.com.au/globalassets/pdfs/insights/xmedia/...