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Electronic Signature as the Core Category in Digital EconomyFiled Under: General

Background
For E-Business of any kind (private or public sector) to grow, businesses must implement the use of electronic signatures correctly, and legally. With the advent of electronic signatures, E-Business is changing the way we sign and store documents. Thus, any business that wants to succeed in the digital economy must deal with electronic signatures. It is considered an everyday activity whenever a law or other arrangement requires a signature of a person. A signature is needed as a medium for authentication in order to identify the person (the signer), to indicate the person’s approval of the
information communicated and, to be legally applicable.

Whether captured on paper or electronically, a signature has a specific legal definition and purpose. The Commercial Codes (the laws adopted by most countries to govern commercial transactions) defines a document that is “signed” as one that includes any name, word, mark, or symbol executed or adopted by a party with the present intention to authenticate the writing. A signature usually serves several purposes, including authentication and attribution of a document to its signer, a reminder of the significance of the document, evidence that the signer intended the signed document to have legal effect, and an indication that the signed document was intended to be the final version.

In today’s digital economy environment, establishing a framework for the authentication of computer-based information requires a familiarity with concepts and professional skills from both the legal and computer security fields. Combining these two disciplines is not an easy task. Concepts from the information security field often correspond only loosely to concepts from the legal field, even in situations where the terminology is similar.

Taken From : Digital Economy – Impacts, Influences and Challenges