Electronic Signature

[faith580]

I have a client that would like to put a form(pdf) on her website and have her visitors fill it out and click a button where it would count as their signature.

should i have her talk to a lawyer before doing this or ....actually i dont even know how to handle this because its my first time

any suggestions because i dont want my client to have an issue 2 months down the road dealing with a client of hers over signing a document or not...

any help would be great

[Brett_Tabke]

ianal: but your lawyer will tell you the same as others have told me: unless it is faxed back with a hand signature, electronic fill-in-the-blank forms have no legal value.

[stajer]

Hi Brett;

I am not sure if that is totally correct anymore. The Electronic Signatures Act passed in 2000 does give digital signatures the same effect as a signature on a document. But, you must have a valid way of verifying the identity of the signor - typically using digital certificates.

[Brett_Tabke]

Talk to a lawyer. If you need something like a rock solid contract - digital is not the way to go.

[Beagle]

The answer will vary depending on what it is that they're signing. For some things, a click-the-button "signature" can be valid, but for other things it isn't. In the U.S. there are a couple of classes of agreements that require (by statute) a paper-and-pen signature. And everything will vary depending on what country you're in.

So, yes, have her talk to a lawyer who knows the legalities in your location; when doing so, she needs to be very specific about what the people would be "signing".