EDI forms were developed to file objections in the huge Snake River Water Basin adjudication in ldaho, in which a special court is dividing water rights in the state. The state's attorney general recently filed 2,000 objections on electronic forms within a few minutes. The court estimated that it would have taken a month to enter the objections manually. Today, most legal documents are created using word-processing software running on a computer. Signing the paper copy simply verifies that this is the information one wishes to submit to the court.
Electronic Documents can free people from the tyranny of paper.
Bogus Arguments A common argument against electronic documents is that they are easily changed. This is simply not true. With today's electronic signature software, legal documents can be made much more secure than their paper brethren. If a single bit of the computer file changes, the checksum number also changes. A system like this is currently being tested in Prince George's County, Maryland.