On authentication, digital signatures and signature laws

The public debate arising from the introduction of signature laws in North America, Europe and elsewhere has prompted this paper. This paper analyses and compares the closely interrelated concepts of authentication, digital signatures and electronic signature laws and tries to explain and resolve some of the ambiguities. Non-trivial problems and issues not much seen in the debate are discussed together with some suggestions as to how to overcome them. The aim of the paper is to help the promotion of both digital signatures and electronic signatures in order to improve the trust and confidence in, and acceptability of, documents in electronic form.