Unfortunately, not all areas of the high tech sector continue to expand as rapidly as we might have hoped. For example, digital signature technology, which would provide increased security for electronic transactions, digital signatures expected impact on electronic commerce is tremendous. Unfortunately, the development of this technology has been severely impeded by a failure within the public sector to accomodate advances in information technology. Development of digital signatures has been relatively modest to date in large part because the federal government has failed to adopt the technology itself. In my view it is imperative that we remedy this situation.
Government is an integral part of the business world.
Whether filing for environment permits, certifying OSHA compliance, submitting workforce information, or for deducting federal taxes from employee wages. Companies conducting business in American must develop and maintain a working relationship with the federal government. Thus, as digital signatures become become fully accepted in the digital marketplace they must be used and accepted by the federal government. The Government Paperwork Elimination Act would require the federal agencies to make versions of their forms available online and allow people to submit these forms with digital signatures as a standard. It also sets up a process by which commercial developed digital signatures can be used in in submitting forms to the government, and permits the digital storage of federal documents.