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Back when DocuSign first came out around 2003 the finance company I worked for was ready to sign up with them at an exorbitant rate. From what I recall, Presid

by 300bps 5y ago

Back when DocuSign first came out around 2003 the finance company I worked for was ready to sign up with them at an exorbitant rate. From what I recall, President Clinton had just signed the e-signature bill in 2000 and all DocuSign seemed to be doing is combining a snapshot of a document along with someone's hand-typed name and generating an MD5 hash from it. I proposed creating our own e-signature app that did that and we used it for the rest of the time I worked at the company (4 years). I think what others are saying - that you're buying the brand DocuSign - is true.

lbittner 5y ago
I work for a large PDF processing company (not Adobe) and true digital signatures are a bit more complex than that. Docusign actually uses our technology in their signing flow and it is a bit more complex than what you are describing. A true digital signature ensures that the document is not altered after the document is signed. This is done by creating a hash of the document, encrypting it using a private key provided by a signing authority, and embedding that in a certificate that is then attached to the document. When opening the signed document (in Adobe reader for example), the hash in the certificate is validated using a public key provided by the signing authority. If the document hash matches the certificate hash, then the document has not been altered!
- beecafe 5y ago
  Isn't this the normal meaning of digital signature in computer circles? Where signature normally refers to cryptographic signing with a private key than with a squiggle on paper.
- ClumsyPilot 5y ago
  That process has value when Party A and B each signed with their respective digital signature. However, what happens with these signing websites is that WhateverSign signs the document with their own certificate - but makes no effort to verify that the person that signed the contract is truly who he says he is. So nothing stops me producing a Docusign contract with your name on it.

by 300bps 5y ago

lbittner 5y ago

I work for a large PDF processing company (not Adobe) and true digital signatures are a bit more complex than that. Docusign actually uses our technology in their signing flow and it is a bit more complex than what you are describing. A true digital signature ensures that the document is not altered after the document is signed. This is done by creating a hash of the document, encrypting it using a private key provided by a signing authority, and embedding that in a certificate that is then attached to the document. When opening the signed document (in Adobe reader for example), the hash in the certificate is validated using a public key provided by the signing authority. If the document hash matches the certificate hash, then the document has not been altered!

beecafe 5y ago
Isn't this the normal meaning of digital signature in computer circles? Where signature normally refers to cryptographic signing with a private key than with a squiggle on paper.
ClumsyPilot 5y ago
That process has value when Party A and B each signed with their respective digital signature. However, what happens with these signing websites is that WhateverSign signs the document with their own certificate - but makes no effort to verify that the person that signed the contract is truly who he says he is. So nothing stops me producing a Docusign contract with your name on it.