overview

basis

adoption





















related
Guides:

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InfoCrime

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Information
Economy

Consumers
& Trust

Publishing



related
Profiles:

Forgery
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Identity
Crime

     overview

This note considers digital signature schemes.

It covers -

• this introduction
• basis
• adoption

It supplements a broader discussion of authentication mechanisms and legal frameworks, along with pointers to salient academic and government studies. The following pages of this note consider the e-signature industry and questions about uptake of e-signatures by specialists or the wider community, along with debate about issues such as access by law enforcement agencies to key repositories.

     introduction

An e-signature is a mechanism for -

• uniquely identifying and authenticating a particular person or organisation as the originator or authoriser of an electronic message, document or transaction
• binding the person/s to the contents of that communication or document or to the particular transaction (eg is an element of an audit trail)
• thereby providing a basis for trust in online interaction, including electronic commerce and health service transactions, and for resolution of disputes (eg through an ADR service or a court) or enforcement action.

E-signatures can be used on a restricted (even one-off) basis for a communication between associates or on a large scale for the identification of communications, documents (including text, audio, video and still image files) and transactions.

They are attractive because they can be automatically generated and validated. That may allow the speedy, low cost and effective identification that some figures regard as essential for both electronic commerce and a robust civil society in an age of identity theft, email spoofing, phishing and other offences.

Use of e-signatures is underpinned by evidence or signature legislation or codes of practice. In some instances the signature has an additional function of identifying the integrity of the communication, eg indicating that the document or message has not been tampered with.

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