From: wcs@anchor.ho.att.com
Date: Mon, 31 May 93 20:54:58 PDT
To: mmc.bitnet!raglan54@uga.cc.uga.edu
Subject: Re: Electronic Contracts
Message-ID: <9306010433.AA27082@anchor.ho.att.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text


Don't know if there have been specific tests of it in courts, but, yes,
signing contracts is definitely something people want digital signatures for.
Also, anything else that requires a signature, we'd like to be able to 
sign digitally, so we can do it online instead of hauling paper around.
That's not just a cypherpunk thing, it's what a large fraction of the
business community would like to be able to do - it speeds business cycles, 
cuts ordering time, and means we don't have to keep all this paper around,
especially in storage; while the paperless office won't be reality for a while,
it would really be nice if we could store the important stuff digitally,
where it's easy to retrieve later, and save paper for transient uses like 
convenient reading, unlike the current situation where digital is for 
convenience but the important stuff is paper that has to be stored somewhere
	MIME-Insert-Video-Clip: Indiana Jones, Government Warehouse Scene.....

A certain amount of this has been done with the various telex networks;
I get the impression from somewhere that a telex can be a legal document
for things like sending purchase orders, just like paper can; it will be
interesting to see if fax acquires the same status, but forging a fax
is terribly easy, just as email is.

		Bill Stewart