1 See ePaynews, Statistics for Electronic Transactions, at http://www.epaynews.com/ statistics/transactions.html (last visited Oct. 8, 2000) [hereinafter Statistics].
2 Id.
3 See Ernest T. Patrickis & Stephanie Heller, The Government’s Role in Electronic Commerce: A Review of the Clinton Administration’s Framework on Global Electronic Commerce, 18 Ann. Rev. Banking L. 325, 325–26 (1999).
4 See id.
5 See Thomas J. Smedinghoff & Ruth Hill Bro, Moving With Change: Electronic Signature Legislation as a Vehicle for Advancing E-commerce, 17 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 723, 725 (1999).
6 Id. at 737.
7 See Juan Andres Avellan V, John Hancock in Borderless Cyberspace: The Cross-Jurisdictional Validity of Electronic Signatures and Certificates in Recent Legislative Texts, 38 Jurimetrics J. 301, 302 (1998).
8 See Benjamin Wright & Jane K. Winn, The Law of Electronic Commerce § 14.02 (3d ed. 1999); Smedinghoff & Bro, supra note 5, at 726.
9 Smedinghoff & Bro, supra note 5, at 732.
10 C. Bradford Biddle, Legislating Market Winners: Digital Signature Laws and the Electronic Commerce Marketplace, 34 San Diego L. Rev. 1225, 1244 (1997); Benjamin Wright, The Verdict on Plain Text Signatures: They’re Legal, at http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/Library/Essays/Digital-Signature-Legal (last modified July 13, 1995).
11 Wright & Winn, supra note 8, § 14.02.
12 Stewart Baker & Matthew Yeo, Survey of International Electronic and Digital Signature Initiatives, Internet Law & Technology Forum, at http://www.ilpf.org/digsig/survey. htm#IIA (last visited Nov. 19, 1999); Simone van der Hof, Digital Signature Law Survey, at http://rechten.kub.nl/simone/ds-lawsu.htm (last visited Oct. 8, 2000).
13 A Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive On A Common Framework for Electronic Signatures: Explanatory Memorandum, COM(98)297 final (May 1998), at http://www.ispo.cec.be/eif/policy/com98297.html [hereinafter Draft Directive].
14 Id.
15 Id.
16 Id.
17 Id.
18 Council Common Position EC) NO 28/1999 adopted by the Council on 28 June 1999 with a view to adopting Directive 1999/000/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of . . . on a Community framework for electronic signatures, 1999 O.J. (C 243) 33 [hereinafter Signature Directive]. Member States must comply with the Signature Directive’s provisions before July 19, 2001. Id.
19 See 1 Hein Kötz, European Contract Law: Formation, Validity, and Content of Contracts; Contract and Third Parties 78 (Tony Weir trans., Hein Kötz & Axel Flessner eds., 1997). Enforceability means that a party to the contract may bring a claim in a court of law and obtain a judgement ordering performance or damages. Id.
20 See id. at 82; Wright & Winn, supra note 8, § 14.02; Joseph M. Perillo, The Statute of Frauds in the Light of the Functions and Dysfunctions of Form, 43 Fordham L. Rev. 39, 40 (1974).
21 5000 Francs is roughly equivalent to 765 U.S. dollars. Xenon Labs, The Universal Currency Converter, at http://www.xe.net/ucc/(last visited Dec. 5, 1999).
22 Kötz, supra note 19, at 83 & n.25.
23 Id. at 89.
24 Id. at 80–81; R. J. Robertson, Jr., Electronic Commerce on the Internet and the Statute of Frauds, 49 S.C. L. Rev. 787, 810 (1998).
25 See Robertson, supra note 24, at 812.
26 Id.
27 Id. at 814
28 Id.
29 Wright & Winn, supra note 8, § 2.05.
30 Robertson, supra note 24, at 790–91, 794.
31 Raymond T. Nimmer, Electronic Contracting: Legal Issues, 14 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 211, 214 (1996).
32 Robertson, supra note 24, at 793–94.
33 Id.
34 Nimmer, supra note 31, at 213; Robertson, supra note 24, at 791.
35 Robertson, supra note 24, at 794.
36 Id. at 791.
37 See id. at 794; Bluesky International Marketing, Market Facts Index, at http://www. blueskyinc.com/factindx.htm(last visited Dec. 5, 1999).
38 See id. at 794–95.
39 Id.
40 Nimmer, supra note 31, at 214.
41 Robertson, supra note 24, at 796.
42 Id.
43 Id.
44 Statistics, supra note 1.
45 Amelia H. Boss, Searching for Security in the Law of Electronic Commerce, 23 Nova L. Rev. 585, 585 (1999).
46 See generally Nimmer, supra note 31; Robertson, supra note 24.
47 Wright & Winn, supra note 8, § 14.02.
48 See id.
49 Wright & Winn, supra note 8, §§ 14.02, 14.05[E]; see also Doherty v. Registry of Motor Vehicles, No. 97CV0050 (Mass. Dist. Ct. Suffolk Cty. May 28, 1997), at http://www.magnet.state.ma.us/itd/legal/case.htm(last visited Nov. 27, 1999). In Doherty, the Massachusetts District Court concluded “that a police officer who files or transmits (or who has another file or transmit) a report that is required by law to be made to the Registry of Motor Vehicles or to some other agency or individual by means of Email or some other electronic method in which there is a statement that identifies the officer making the report and a statement that it is ‘made under the penalties of perjury’ has ‘signed’ the document and is subject to a prosecution for perjury if the report is willfully false in a material manner even though the report does not contain a handwritten signature.” Id.
50 Wright & Winn, supra note 8, § 14.02.
51 Robertson, supra note 24, at 796.
52 Boss, supra note 45, at 597–98; Smedinghoff & Bro, supra note 5, at 732.
53 See id.
54 See Boss, supra note 45, at 597–98.
55 Id.
56 Wright & Winn, supra note 8, § 3.06[D]; Boss, supra note 45, at 597–98.
57 Biddle, supra note 10, at 1228.
58 Webster’s New World Dictionary and Thesaurus 145 (Macmillan ed. 1996).
59 Wright & Winn, supra note 8, § 3.06[C]. Conventional cryptography is also known as “symmetric cryptography.” Id.
60 Id.; Philip S. Corwin, Digital Signatures and Signature Dynamics: Some Issues to Consider, 17 Banking Pol’y Rep. 1, 10 no. 9 (1998).
61 Wright & Winn, supra note 8, § 3.06[C].
62 Id.
63 Corwin, supra note 60, at 10.
64 Id.
65 Id.
66 Id.
67 Id., § 3.06[D].
68 Corwin, supra note 60, at § 3.06[D].
69 Wright & Winn, supra note 8, § 3.06[B]; Corwin, supra note 60, at 9.
70 Corwin, supra note 60, at 9.
71 PenOp, What is PenOp: How PenOp Works, at http://www.penop.com/penop/penop. nsf/htmlmedia/how_penop_works.html (last visited Oct. 13, 1999); LCI Computer Group N.V., Press Release, at http://www.lcigroup.com/ (last visited Oct. 13, 1999).
72 Corwin, supra note 60, at 10.
73 Id. at 11.
74 Id. at 15.
75 Baker & Yeo, supra note 12; Christopher Kuner & Anja Miedbrodt, Written Signature Requirements and Electronic Authentication: A Comparative Review, at http://www.kuner.com/ data/sig/signature_perspecive.html (last visited Dec. 3, 1999).
76 Draft Directive, supra note 13; Baker & Yeo, supra note 12; European Electronic Signature Standardization Initiative, Final Report of the EESSI Expert Team, 80–83, July 20, 1999, at http://www.ict.etsi.org/eessi/Final-Report.pdf [hereinafter EESSI Report].
77 Baker & Yeo, supra note 12; EESSI Report, supra note 76, at 84–86.
78 Id. An up to date review can be found in Van der Hof, supra note 12, at http://cwis.kub.nl/~frw/people/hof/ds-lawsu.htm#esigdir (last visited Nov. 23 1999) .
79 EESSI Report, supra note 76, at 81.
80 Id. at 83.
81 Id.
82 Id.
83 Id. at 80; Kuner & Miedbrodt, supra note 75.
84 Kuner & Miedbrodt, supra note 75.
85 Id.
86 Id.
87 Id.
88 House of Commons, Electronic Communications Bill, cl. 7, at http://www.parliament. the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199900/cmbills/004/2000004.htm (last visited Dec. 4, 1999). The Electronic Communications Bill was presented to the House of Commons on 18 November 1999. Id.
89 Id., cl. 23(2).
90 Id.
91 Department of Trade and Industry, Explanatory Notes to the Electronic Communications Bill, at http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199900/cmbills/ 004/en/00004x—.htm (last visited on Dec. 4, 1999).
92 Signature Directive, supra note 18.
93 Draft Directive, supra note 13.
94 Signature Directive, supra note 18, art. 2(1).
95 Id., art. 2(2).
96 Baker & Yeo, supra note 12; see also EESSI Report, supra note 76, at 19.
97 Signature Directive, supra note 18, art. 5(2).
98 Id., art. 2(9).
99 Id., art. 2(10).
100 Id.
101 Id., art. 2(6).
102 Baker & Yeo, supra note 12.
103 Id.; see also EESSI Report, supra note 76, at 19.
104 Signature Directive, supra note 18, art 5(2).
105 Boss, supra note 45, at 602; Thomas G. Melling, Washington’s Electronic Authentication Act: Eliminating Legal Uncertainties Through Default Rules, 34 San Diego L. Rev. 1247 (1997); see generally Biddle, supra note 10.
106 Boss, supra note 45, at 601; Baker & Yeo, supra note 12.
107 Boss, supra note 45, at 598; Baker & Yeo, supra note 12.
108 Boss, supra note 45, at 601.
109 Id. at 600, 606.
110 Christopher Kuner, Remarks of the German Government on the EU Draft Directive Concerning Electronic and Digital Signatures, at http://www.kuner.com/data/sig/gov_digsig_ recognition.html (last visited Oct. 4, 1999) [hereinafter Remarks].
111 Robertson, supra note 24, at 821–22.
112 See Wright & Winn, supra note 8, § 14.08[C]; Biddle, supra note 10, at 1226; Boss, supra note 45, at 624; Robertson, supra note 24, at 824–25.
113 Biddle, supra note 10, at 1245–46; Boss, supra note 45, at 623–4; Tom Bliley, Don’t Overregulate E-commerce, Washington Business Journal, Dec. 14, 1998, at http://www.amcity.com/washington/stories/1998/12/14/editorial2.html (last visited Oct. 15, 1999); International Working Group On Electronic Authentication, International Consensus Principles for Electronic Authentication, Internet Law & Policy Forum, at http://www. ilpf.org/digsig/intlprin.htm [hereinafter Consensus Principles].
114 See Wright & Winn, supra note 8, § 14.08[C]; see Consensus Principles, supra note 113.
115 Baker & Yeo, supra note 12; Corwin, supra note 60, at 11.
116 Boss, supra note 45, at 601.
117 Id.
118 Baker & Yeo, supra note 12.
119 See Christopher Kuner, German Consumer Association Denounces EU Draft Digital Signature Directive, at http://www.kuner.com/data/sig/verbrauc.html(last visited Oct. 4, 1999).
120 Boss, supra note 45, at 617.
121 Id.; Robertson, supra note 24, at 795.
122 Kuner, supra note 119.
123 Boss, supra note 45, at 604, 606; Baker & Yeo, supra note 12; see also Signature Directive, supra note 18, art. 5.
124 Signature Directive, supra note 18, art. 5(1).
125 Id., art. 5(2) (emphasis added).
126 Wright & Winn, supra note 8, § 3.06[D].
127 Signature Directive, supra note 18, art. 5(2).
128 Id.; Corwin, supra note 60, at 15.
129 Id.
130 The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, Columbia University Press (1998).
131 See Boss, supra note 45, at 624; see also The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, supra note 130.
132 See Boss, supra note 45, at 624.
133 See id.
134 Id. at 623.
135 See id.
136 See id. at 607.
137 See Signature Directive, supra note 18, art. 5.
138 See Boss, supra note 45, at 624.
139 See Wright & Winn, supra note 8, § 14.01; Wright, supra note 10.
140 Department of Public Enterprise, Outline Legislative Proposals On Electronic Signatures, Electronic Contracts, Certification Service Provision and Related Matters; Consultation Paper: Electronic Signatures—utline Legislation, August 1999, at http://www.ecommercegov.ie/indexe. html.
141 Id.