The signature with pen on paper is disappearing from the world. Fingerprints, DNA samples, digital signatures and access passwords threaten to take its place
James Meek, Guardian
One night in August last year, while I was sleeping, my identity was stolen: Mon
Passports, driver's license, two credit cards, ATM card,
And worst of all, maybe the proof of my existence - my birth certificate. process
The restoration of the documents took more than a month, cost around 150 dollars and was
Involves filling out many forms. After my rage and anxiety subsided, I understood
that I still have in my possession the main elements of my identity in England: were
I have my own face, my own address, and perhaps most importantly - my signature, the same
A series of signs, scribbles that were rounded over the years and proved to the waiters
And to sellers in stores, to bank tellers, to mortgage lenders and to registrars
Marriage, which is indeed me.
But I was wrong. Lately they no longer want your signature. They want
A photo of you with permission from someone who knows you. They want letters sent
To you from big bodies like the British telephone company, they want your name
Your mother's youth, your bank balance, they want fingerprints,
Eyeball shapes, DNA samples, code names and access passwords
Confidentiality. Your signature, be it the most beautiful of signatures, is simply too easy to forge.
The signature in pen on dying paper. Her days are short. Started on May 25th
2001, when the electronic communication law is passed, you will receive the signature
The digital on digital documents are legally valid in the UK, just like
The signature of the pen on paper. The Ministry of Trade and Industry hoped the Queen would agree
to sign the document with a digital signature, but Buckingham Palace rejected the
the proposal. Bill Clinton had no problems. Last June he signed a law
The American electronic communication with a digital signature (although he added to it
his handwritten signature).
Clinton also emphasized that new technology and new laws are not just symbols
the end of the era of handwritten signatures, but also the end of the era of storage
the documents. The digital signature is just as simple as a pen signature: you write
It is written with a special pen on a pressure-sensitive surface, and it is recorded in the computer.
It can also be your face, your fingerprint, or the eyeball, but
The intention of the digital signature is to create a file of numbers that is unique only
to one person, and even he himself cannot decipher it.
This signature will be acceptable in various online sales and businesses, but
The real death of the signature will happen when banks start using it
In the digital signatures, for example, on credit cards. The Canadian government already
Thinking of issuing such IDs.
The written signature is a modern invention. Except King Alfred, the king
The first Englishman who knew how to sign his name was King John, and despite this
He preferred to sign important documents with a wax seal. Documents to date
It is very important to receive such a stamp.
It is difficult for a pen signature to survive in the modern age, but if we lose it,
We will also lose something that relies solely on our memory. as long as we
In life, we manage to think logically and are able to move our hands
can sign. Digital signatures depend on the memory of machines,
And about our ability to remember keywords - you won't be able to sign your signature if
Forget what your keyword is. Even so, we have excess keywords and codes
that we must remember. I have three secret numbers for financial purposes, which one
Of which I have already forgotten, and two more for telephone dialing from abroad. Any service
Internet requires its own keyword. I have long since forgotten all the code words
Mine, I have some .20
{Appeared in Haaretz newspaper, 3/10/2000{
