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MUETA: What Every Public Sector Lawyer Should Know Department Of Telecommunications And Energy Thursday, December 2, 2004 The Once and Future Signature I Traditional Signatures II Before E-SIGN: The Law pertaining to Traditional Signatures in Massachusetts III E-SIGN IV MUETA V Technology Neutrality VI The Myth of “Nonrepudiation” I TRADITIONAL SIGNATURES Traditional Signatures Authentication: the original biometric Attachment of signature to document Intent of the signor Some comfort re: document integrity Traditional Signature Imperfections Authentication Attachment to document Intent of the signor Document integrity Forgery Electronic copying can disassociate signature from document Signature pages can be replaced Wordprocessed pages can be replaced and altered without detection II Before E-SIGN, the Law Pertaining to Traditional Signatures in Massachusetts Before E-SIGN Many Massachusetts state statutes and regulations: require signature for a particular transaction Suggest what that signature must consist of Statutes of frauds: Some contracts not valid unless reduced to writing. Before E-SIGN Various sections of the MGL and regulations Defined signatures loosely to include many different kinds of signatures or Defined signatures tightly to exclude many different kinds of signatures or Explicitly prohibited use of electronic signatures Mass. Common Law on Signatures was Liberal Where validity of electronic records not at issue, courts treat in the same way as paper records. In the absence of state statute specifying a “wet” signature, lower level courts have permitted a number of different kinds of signatures. Negotiations conducted through email, fax and phone call satisfies Long Arm Statute Lenient with respect to non-traditional signatures and records (e.g. facsimile signature) Telegram is a writing under statute of frauds State trooper report signed via email valid III E-SIGN In the US, business and legal community concerned about validity of