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I haven't researched the law here in a while, but my general impression the last time I did was that there isn't much in the way of legal requirements for signi

I haven't researched the law here in a while, but my general impression the last time I did was that there isn't much in the way of legal requirements for signing things digitally beyond the federal ESIGN Act, general principles of state contract law, and the smattering of very particular kinds of transactions that require processes like notarization or recording. For everyday deals between the vast majority of people and companies, it really comes down to whether what the e-sign collects and saves will be available and convincing down the line, when there's a dispute. When dealing with government entities, you may run into policies of those entities that require use of a pre-approved service. For example: https://www.sos.ca.gov/administration/regulations/current-regulations/technology/digital-signatures/frequently-asked-questions#provider https://www.sos.ca.gov/administration/regulations/current-re... All that said, I have both implemented electronic signature in my own software and reliably recommended clients running sales ops just buy DocuSign. Familiarity and credibility can matter way more than legal or technical details...or not at all.

Projectiboga 3y ago
Supreme Court said you can agree to things online awhile ago.
- jacurtis 3y ago
  Nothing in the American legal system is that straightforward and simple, even less so among our Supreme Court. Things got even more confusing now that this year the Supreme Court has set a new precedent that they can now overturn their own rulings from decades earlier. While I think that’s generally true that online signatures are acceptable in most circumstances, I’d be careful to blindly believe it as a blanket statement.
  - vitus 3y ago
    > this year the Supreme Court has set a new precedent that they can now overturn their own rulings from decades earlier What happened this year specifically? Dobbs was in June 2022, but that isn't even close to the first time that the Supreme Court overturned precedent from 50+ years prior -- Brown v Board largely overturned Plessy v Ferguson ("separate but equal") from nearly 60 years prior. And, we've had plenty of Supreme Court precedents overruled since the 19th century. According to Congress: https://constitution.congress.gov/resources/decisions-overruled/ https://constitution.congress.gov/resources/decisions-overru... (Most of those never rose to the level of landmark decisions, but Plessy certainly did.)
    - otteromkram 3y ago
      Roe v. Wade
      - quickthrower2 3y ago
        That is covered by the comment you replied to
      - rs999gti 3y ago
        I would blame the congress more than the supreme court for Roe being overturned. The legal precedent was made in the initial supreme court ruling, all someone needed to do in the legislature is codify it into law. But no, laziness and re-electabilty on both sides, led to the ruling being overturned in the second examination of Roe.
    - Guvante 3y ago
      Eliminating separate but equal was based on the evidence of how that statue was used. Eliminating abortion protections was based on "we don't think the founders meant that" which is a form of consideration never before used. This kind of test is effectively in the eye of the beholder. You can say whatever you want and disproving it requires Goldilocks evidence. You can't talk about the case law the American system was based on even if it was adopted wholesale and unchanged. You can't talk about the intervening decades and how the legal system handled things. You need to basically quote the founding fathers talking about a specific topic or the Supreme Court can say "no I disagree" and overrule you.
      - vitus 3y ago
        > Eliminating abortion protections was based on "we don't think the founders meant that" which is a form of consideration never before used. Textualism and originalism have been in play for decades -- off the top of my head: 2008's DC v Heller basically codified today's broad interpretation of the second amendment's protections. I don't personally agree with the decisions (among other things, the resulting patchwork application of laws has meant that your access to abortion is dependent on how strong your state's Democratic bent in the statehouse(s) is), but it's not novel to the past decade, even. The only new development from the past 5-10 years is the presence of 5 votes on the court willing to overturn Roe's long-standing precedent.
- dataviz1000 3y ago
  Click wrap is binding.
anonymous_sorry 3y ago
Does this hold true in the rest of the world?
- 3c6bYDXLMj 3y ago
  I am in Australia and the situation is largely the same.
- dubcanada 3y ago
  Canada you can use what ever you want, and it also includes things like "doing activities". Like if you click an "approve" button that can be considered a signature.
FuriouslyAdrift 3y ago
Remote online notary services (DocuSign is one) has a TON of legal and regulatory requirements, for obvious reasons. https://www.nationalnotary.org/knowledge-center/remote-online-notary https://www.nationalnotary.org/knowledge-center/remote-onlin...

Projectiboga 3y ago

Supreme Court said you can agree to things online awhile ago.

jacurtis 3y ago
Nothing in the American legal system is that straightforward and simple, even less so among our Supreme Court. Things got even more confusing now that this year the Supreme Court has set a new precedent that they can now overturn their own rulings from decades earlier. While I think that’s generally true that online signatures are acceptable in most circumstances, I’d be careful to blindly believe it as a blanket statement.
- vitus 3y ago
  > this year the Supreme Court has set a new precedent that they can now overturn their own rulings from decades earlier What happened this year specifically? Dobbs was in June 2022, but that isn't even close to the first time that the Supreme Court overturned precedent from 50+ years prior -- Brown v Board largely overturned Plessy v Ferguson ("separate but equal") from nearly 60 years prior. And, we've had plenty of Supreme Court precedents overruled since the 19th century. According to Congress: https://constitution.congress.gov/resources/decisions-overruled/ https://constitution.congress.gov/resources/decisions-overru... (Most of those never rose to the level of landmark decisions, but Plessy certainly did.)
  - otteromkram 3y ago
    Roe v. Wade
    - quickthrower2 3y ago
      That is covered by the comment you replied to
    - rs999gti 3y ago
      I would blame the congress more than the supreme court for Roe being overturned. The legal precedent was made in the initial supreme court ruling, all someone needed to do in the legislature is codify it into law. But no, laziness and re-electabilty on both sides, led to the ruling being overturned in the second examination of Roe.
  - Guvante 3y ago
    Eliminating separate but equal was based on the evidence of how that statue was used. Eliminating abortion protections was based on "we don't think the founders meant that" which is a form of consideration never before used. This kind of test is effectively in the eye of the beholder. You can say whatever you want and disproving it requires Goldilocks evidence. You can't talk about the case law the American system was based on even if it was adopted wholesale and unchanged. You can't talk about the intervening decades and how the legal system handled things. You need to basically quote the founding fathers talking about a specific topic or the Supreme Court can say "no I disagree" and overrule you.
    - vitus 3y ago
      > Eliminating abortion protections was based on "we don't think the founders meant that" which is a form of consideration never before used. Textualism and originalism have been in play for decades -- off the top of my head: 2008's DC v Heller basically codified today's broad interpretation of the second amendment's protections. I don't personally agree with the decisions (among other things, the resulting patchwork application of laws has meant that your access to abortion is dependent on how strong your state's Democratic bent in the statehouse(s) is), but it's not novel to the past decade, even. The only new development from the past 5-10 years is the presence of 5 votes on the court willing to overturn Roe's long-standing precedent.
dataviz1000 3y ago
Click wrap is binding.

anonymous_sorry 3y ago

Does this hold true in the rest of the world?

3c6bYDXLMj 3y ago
I am in Australia and the situation is largely the same.
dubcanada 3y ago
Canada you can use what ever you want, and it also includes things like "doing activities". Like if you click an "approve" button that can be considered a signature.

FuriouslyAdrift 3y ago

Remote online notary services (DocuSign is one) has a TON of legal and regulatory requirements, for obvious reasons. https://www.nationalnotary.org/knowledge-center/remote-online-notary https://www.nationalnotary.org/knowledge-center/remote-onlin...