This distrust stems from online security and identity concerns. Ironically, digital signatures will be more secure than traditional signatures, since digital signatures will remain static and traditional signatures have been dynamic, constantly changing over an individual's lifetime. For Hajmiragha of DocuTouch, the principal obstacle remains one of consumer confidence. The biggest barrier to digital technology acceptance, like many new technologies, will be trust. Early adopters and vertical market leaders will set the pace for the use of digital signatures.
Privacy is also at the forefront of the debate.
Osborne adds that there is a significant difference between e-signatures and digital signatures that has been lost in the welter of coverage on the issue. While individual technologies exist to process digital signatures through each of these various stages, there is no coherent, interoperable system based on agreed standards. This will mean different grades of e-signature based on the transaction. This, however, will hardly suffice for a corporate contract signing, for instance, which might necessitate a digital certificate accompanying the electronic signature, to verify the identity of the document sender. All this represents a tantalizing frontier for vendors that have the ability to offer and validate electronic signatures according to consumer or business requirements.