[104627] in Cypherpunks
IP: Senate Passes Forward-Looking Electronic Signatures Bill
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Vladimir Z. Nuri)
Sun Oct 25 01:43:46 1998
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Date: Sat, 24 Oct 98 22:34:49 -0700
From: "Vladimir Z. Nuri" <vznuri@netcom.com>
Reply-To: "Vladimir Z. Nuri" <vznuri@netcom.com>
From: believer@telepath.com
Subject: IP: Senate Passes Forward-Looking Electronic Signatures Bill
Date: Fri, 23 Oct 1998 08:49:38 -0500
To: believer@telepath.com
Source: Center for Democracy and Technology
http://www.cdt.org/press/101298press.html
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Alan Davidson
CDT Staff Counsel
Email: abd@cdt.org
Phone: 202-637-9800 x110
Senate Passes Forward-Looking Electronic Signatures Bill
WASHINGTON, October 9, 1998 - The Senate passed Congress' first major piece
of legislation on electronic signatures this Thursday, approving Senator
Spencer Abraham's "Paperwork Reduction Act" as part of the larger "Internet
Tax Freedom Act" (ITFA) (S.442). The Abraham bill would push the federal
government into the Information Age, laying down the preliminary
groundrules for federal government use of electronic signatures for forms
submitted online. The bill also contains first-ever privacy provisions to
protect the personal information of people using electronic signature system.
"Electronic signatures will ultimately be an essential part of doing
business online," said Alan Davidson, CDT Staff Counsel. "This bill moves
us closer to the vision of a government made more accessible to the
citizenry via the Internet, while protecting the privacy rights of people
who use these new technologies. CDT commends Senator Abraham for including
forward-looking privacy provisions in this bill, recognizing that people
will only trust electronic government if their privacy is protected."
The Abraham legislation establishes a baseline for government acceptance of
electronic signatures, without being overly restrictive of the technologies
used. The bill requires the OMB to set out procedures for agency acceptance
of electronic submissions using electronic signatures, and agencies will be
required to accept those electronic submissions except where found to be
impractical or inappropriate. Similar legislation has been sponsored in the
House by Representatives Anna Eshoo and Billy Tauzin.
The legislation also establishes, for the first time, privacy protections
governing personal information collected when the public uses electronic
signature systems. Many such systems gather sensitive information in the
course of providing and guaranteeing and electronic signature. The Abraham
bill would prohibit companies that collect such information from using or
disclosing it without the permission of the person involved. Authored by
Senators Leahy and Abraham, this marks the first attempt to craft a
legislative approach to dealing with the potential erosion of privacy
created by electronic signature use.
More background on the issue of electronic signatures online is available
at CDT's web site, http://www.cdt.org/digsig
-----------------------
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interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and
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http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
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