A
signature always reveals a man's character - and sometimes even his
name.
-- Evan Esar
<Magnolia.Technologies></Magnolia.Technologies><electronic.Signatures>
On June 30, 2000 the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-Sign Act) was signed and went into effect on October 1, 2000. A provision of the Act is that neither a signature, a contract, nor a record may be denied legal effect solely because it is in electronic form. For the mortgage banking industry, within certain boundaries specified in the legislation itself, the enactment of E-Sign allowed for electronic signatures on electronic mortgage documents.
The E-Sign Act does not define or specify the technologies and mechanisms governing the implementation and management of electronic signatures in electronic documents and records. The Mortgage banking industry has developed specific requirements for the implementation and management of electronic signatures in electronic documents and records.
Electronic signatures come in many forms and can be implemented in multiple ways. It is very important to design the technology, as well as the process, so as to preserve the legal and technical integrity of the signatures, especially those used for borrowers in electronic mortgage documents. In the paper world, it is easy for anyone to apply a distinctive mark to acknowledge and/or be bound to the terms of a paper document. In most cases, such marks can be attributed to a person or entity, and tampering can be detected to a very limited extent through forensic methods.
Electronic signature laws – ESIGN and UETA – have permitted the use of electronic signatures created by any sound, symbol or process applied with the intention to be bound by the signature. However, like ink signatures, electronic signatures most commonly represent the signer's name in some form. Electronic signatures can be implemented through a variety of technologies, which provide means for the borrower(s) to apply a distinctive mark to the document that represents their acknowledgement of, or agreement to, the contents of the electronic document. One form of electronic signature – a digital signature – requires a different set of technologies to implement.
One type of electronic signature is the signature technology used to represent the human signer of the document. The human may use many different types of technologies to electronically sign the document. There may be text based signatures represented by the signer typing his or her name, click-through “I agree” signatures, image based signatures (electronic handwritten signatures) and PKI-based digital signatures.
A second type of signature is a unique requirement developed by the Mortgage Banking Industry and is referred to as the “Tamperseal” or the “Tamper Evident Signature”. The Tamperseal is an XML digital signature and is typically generated by system. The Tamperseal is used to verify the document integrity and must be signed using a digital certificate that meets the identity management policy set forth by SISAC.
</electronic.Signatures>