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Show HN: FalsiScan – Make it look like a PDF has been hand signed and scanned

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11–20 of 191 posts

Re: Show HN: FalsiScan – Make it look like a PDF has been hand signed and scanned

#11

I don't get the magical power of a signature at all. Everybody can write my name under a document. This project basically allows you to forge your own signature. Is it still legally binding? Do these rules even remember the original intent?

The question is, can you forge your own signature? If both parties agree that the document is legally binding it seems a bit unlikely that the document would fall under the forged label. Though I am not a lawyer. It's also worth noting that digital signatures throughout the european union have legal status.

Digital signatures also have legal status in the US.

Until society catches up and uses cryptographic primitives provided by a national ID smart card (such that Estonia has) for authorizing intents, this is a satisfactory method to make document execution less painful.

This project is already doing the easy part (“place pretty signature picture here”). Depending on your jurisdiction and their tolerance, you could also render a true crypto signature in ascii-armored format to assist in proving legitimacy (perhaps generated as a small print signature line under the signature).

Sidenote: Some transactions require a "wet" signature (as in, actual ink on actual paper from an actual pen). This doesn't get around those transactions unfortunately.

Re: Show HN: FalsiScan – Make it look like a PDF has been hand signed and scanned

#12
It's not a false signature, this kind of thing is standard practice for digitally signing documents. DocuSign even allows you to insert a computer-generated signature that looks nothing like your "real" one. What matters is the audit trail.

This is legally binding the same way clicking the "Buy" button on Amazon is.

Re: Show HN: FalsiScan – Make it look like a PDF has been hand signed and scanned

#13

Mac’s pdf viewer Preview has a signature capture feature built in that’s pretty slick. I use it all the time and haven’t encountered an objection. Tbh I’d wonder why you need to fuzz up and fake scan the image. If someone’s requiring that the doc be “signed in ink” or some such, more power to you!

From the link:

"For bureaucratic reasons, a colleague of mine had to print, sign, scan and send by email a high number of pages. To save trees, ink, time, and to stick it to the bureaucrats, I wrote this script."

So yes, it does seem like there are situations where a "digital" signature is insufficient.

Re: Show HN: FalsiScan – Make it look like a PDF has been hand signed and scanned

#14

I don't get the magical power of a signature at all. Everybody can write my name under a document. This project basically allows you to forge your own signature. Is it still legally binding? Do these rules even remember the original intent?

The act of marking the sig field shows your intent to bind to the contract. You can digitally sign but there are a couple extra steps to confirm the intent and identity that aren't hard but are just hard enough to make DocuSign a lot of money and leave everybody else to print/sign/scan their stuff.

Re: Show HN: FalsiScan – Make it look like a PDF has been hand signed and scanned

#15

I don't get the magical power of a signature at all. Everybody can write my name under a document. This project basically allows you to forge your own signature. Is it still legally binding? Do these rules even remember the original intent?

In a way I don't think it's possible to forge one's own signature. What's the diference of my signature from the forgery of the signature I did myself? Signature on a piece of paper says "I read this and agree with what's written so I've put a unique piece of ink there to show my agreement" doesn't really matter what you put there if all parts agree on its validity.

Re: Show HN: FalsiScan – Make it look like a PDF has been hand signed and scanned

#16
post #12

It's not a false signature, this kind of thing is standard practice for digitally signing documents. DocuSign even allows you to insert a computer-generated signature that looks nothing like your "real" one. What matters is the audit trail. This is legally binding the same way clicking the "Buy" button on Amazon is.

Yes yes that's all nice and good until the person you're signing the document for tell you "I don't care what someone on Hacker News thinks is good enough, I need this signed in ink".

I've encountered this before myself, and so have many other people, and we're all already aware of what you're saying.

Re: Show HN: FalsiScan – Make it look like a PDF has been hand signed and scanned

#17

I don't get the magical power of a signature at all. Everybody can write my name under a document. This project basically allows you to forge your own signature. Is it still legally binding? Do these rules even remember the original intent?

> Do these rules even remember the original intent?

You are describing bureaucracy.

There are plenty of people who work (and live) by rules that no longer make sense, but hey, they're the rules!

Re: Show HN: FalsiScan – Make it look like a PDF has been hand signed and scanned

#19

I don't get the magical power of a signature at all. Everybody can write my name under a document. This project basically allows you to forge your own signature. Is it still legally binding? Do these rules even remember the original intent?

The act of marking the sig field shows your intent to bind to the contract. You can digitally sign but there are a couple extra steps to confirm the intent and identity that aren't hard but are just hard enough to make DocuSign a lot of money and leave everybody else to print/sign/scan their stuff.

So you're saying the signature itself is irrelevant? It's just an elaborate checkbox? The question then is how do you prove I was the guy who checked the box?

Re: Show HN: FalsiScan – Make it look like a PDF has been hand signed and scanned

#20

I don't get the magical power of a signature at all. Everybody can write my name under a document. This project basically allows you to forge your own signature. Is it still legally binding? Do these rules even remember the original intent?

In a way I don't think it's possible to forge one's own signature. What's the diference of my signature from the forgery of the signature I did myself? Signature on a piece of paper says "I read this and agree with what's written so I've put a unique piece of ink there to show my agreement" doesn't really matter what you put there if all parts agree on its validity.

But what if you aren't the one who forged your own signature? How are you going to prove that someone else scribbled something on a PDF?
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