Clinton signs e-signature bill into law
PHILADELPHIA -- President Clinton took the unusual step Friday of ushering
in a revolution in the formalization of Internet commerce by signing the
long-awaited e-signatures bill into law -- symbolically using new digital
signature technology to do so.
The bill accords online "electronic" signatures intended to complete legal agreements or commercial transactions the same legal status as a formal signature scrawled out on a paper document.
"The Electronic Signatures Act shows what we in Washington can accomplish when we put progress ahead of partisanship," Clinton said Friday. "Soon, vast warehouses of paper will be replaced by servers the size of VCRs."
"Online contracts will now have the same legal force as equivalent paper contracts," Clinton said just prior to calling the bill up on a flat-screen personal computer. The president declared that signing one's name online will soon become a common way to hire a lawyer, sign a mortgage, open a brokerage account, or sign an insurance contract.
