The digital certificate represents a collection of data in electronic format which confirm the connection between the validation data of the
digital signature and a person, authenticating the identity of that person (Romanian Parliament, 2001).
Just because
digital signatures are legal, doesn't mean they're always safe or smart.
Digital Signatures: www.softwareindustry.org/issues/1digsig.html (accessed 11 April 2002); www.youdzone.com/signature.html (accessed 11 April 2002).
That legislation cleared the way for legally binding
digital signatures for everything from auto loans to home mortgages.
'
Digital signatures are fundamental to the development of trust in e-commerce and e-government -- but for a variety of reasons they are not yet in widespread use.'
"
Digital signatures spark debate." The New York Times, May 14, 2001.
Digital signatures are a form of electronic signature.
A
digital signatures bill passed last June by Congress, the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, endows electronic documents and contracts with as much validity as signatures in ink.
The main advantage of
digital signatures over written signatures is their security.
But that could take time, given the lack of standards and infrastructure--the support systems for administering
digital signatures. "
Digital signatures are where the auto industry was in 1905," he says.
These standards are the cornerstone for new federal law governing
digital signatures, which was scheduled to go into effect in October 2000.
A local Utah company has developed a new technology with which it hopes to allay people's concerns about the safety and security of
digital signatures.