Companies Move to Provide Digital Signature Capabilities

Companies Move to Provide Digital Signature CapabilitiesL O S A N G E L E S, July 6 — At tiny signOnline Inc., executives are working overtime on what could become the Internet’s next gold rush: digital signatures, technology that allows consumers to buy a home or auto without signing a piece of paper. A new law, signed Friday by President Clinton, gives electronically signed documents the same legal validity as paper documents. It opens the door to a market potentially worth billions of dollars. “Eventually, we’re all going to have digital signatures,” said Brad Harvey, signOnline’s co-founder. “You’re going to see the whole world transformed. This really does change the world.”Changing Online CommerceThe new law certainly promises to change online commerce. Electronic signatures can be used for online transactions as simple as routine credit card purchases. The real lure for companies that provide the technology are high-value transactions such as home purchases, online stock trading, government procurement and big corporate contracts. Digital signatures are based on encryption techniques that verify the identities of the buyer and seller in an electronic transaction and prevent documents from being altered after the deal is completed. Most transactions could be completed in a few mouse clicks. Some companies provide hardware that allows users to record their actual signature using an electronic pen and pad. The pad not only measures the signature pattern, but also how much force is used and how quickly the signature is written for comparison with the original. Sony offers a product that digitally records a user’s fingerprints. The user then can access his digital signature only after placing a finger or thumb on a scanner for comparison.Digital Signatures in ActionBefore the federal law was signed, digital signatures already were legal in more than 40 states, and a number of companies are using them. Since March, online brokerage ETrade Securities Inc.’s customers have had the option of using digital signatures to open accounts, bypassing the hassle of signing and mailing paper documents. In a Florida pilot program earlier this year, Baltimore-based eOriginal Inc. claimed to have shaved $750 from the cost of processing a home loan by eliminating paperwork fees. Courts in Salt Lake City have accepted digitally signed documents since March through a system set up by Utah-based iLumin Inc.UPS Foresees ExpansionUPS launched an e-signatures business in 1998 on the expectation that digital technology would pinch its document delivery business. Because e-signatures were not legal in every state, customers were reluctant to use it, said Kim Marchner, who ran the service before becoming manager of UPS’s small business unit. She expects the federal legislation to change things. “I think we have the opportunity to make the standard,” she said. “We’re not sitting back to wait and see.” Officials at Federal Express declined to comment on whether they are developing an electronic signatures business.