Electronic signatures on documents are increasingly used and accepted by more and more people as a legally binding way of signing documents. We think it’s about time! An e-signature is not only visible to the naked eye, but consists of lots of information that can only be read and interpreted by a computer.
It is therefore important to know how to validate the e-signature, i.e. how to determine the legal value. We recommend choosing a third party to validate your signed documents.
We usually recommend Adobe, whose free version automatically validates electronically signed documents when you open them. But of course you can use The TellusTalk validation page as well.
What determines the legal value is:
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- That the document has not changed since it was signed by the recipient. In The TellusTalk service, the signed file is locked with a qualified certificate and the hash value of the original file is noted. Should someone try to change the document, a warning text is displayed in the validation tool.
- Who has signed the document. TellusTalk adds a cover page with all the information about the signatories as well as the time and date the e-signature took place. TellusTalk also inserts signature data into the file which can be used as evidence in the event of a dispute. This data is interpreted by a computer and contains information the validation tools use.
- That everybody knows what has been signed. In The TellusTalk signature files, both the original document and the signed text are always attached so that you can easily see what was signed.
Our hope is that e-signatures will replace hand signatures in many fields in the near future because there are so many advantages. We also hope that this blog post gave you answers to your questions about e-signatures and how to validate one’s electronic signatures.
