Electronic records and signature disclosure

Someone has asked you to sign a document, and you will sign it on a screen instead of on paper. The law lets you do that, and it also requires that you be told what it means first, and be given a real chance to say no. That is what this page is.

It is longer than most of what you will read on this site. That is deliberate. This is the point where something becomes binding, and the words matter more than the brevity.

1. What you are agreeing to

You are agreeing to three things at once, and it is worth separating them.

To receive this document, and the notices that go with it, on a screen rather than on paper.
To sign it with an electronic signature, which will have the same legal effect as signing it by hand, subject to section 2.
To verify your identity first, by photographing a government photo ID and taking a photograph of your face.

You are not agreeing to the contents of the document by agreeing to this. Reading and accepting what the document says is a separate decision, and you make it after this one.

2. What an electronic signature is worth

In the United States, the federal ESIGN Act and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act adopted by most states provide that a signature, a contract or a record is not unenforceable only because it is electronic. In the European Union, eIDAS provides that an electronic signature is not denied legal effect only because it is electronic.

In plain terms: signing here binds you the way signing on paper would, provided the conditions those laws set are met. Whether they are met for your particular document, in your particular country, is a legal question. Signitri is not a law firm and cannot answer it for you.

[TO BE CONFIRMED: the jurisdictions this disclosure is stated to cover, whether a separate version is required for consumers under ESIGN section 101(c), and the eIDAS assurance level Signitri claims — simple, advanced, or qualified. That last one changes what this section is allowed to say.]

3. Documents that cannot be signed this way

Some documents are excluded from electronic signature by law, and no platform can change that. In many places the exclusions include wills and testamentary trusts, certain family law documents, and some court filings and official notices. The exact list differs by country and, in the United States, by state.

If your document falls into one of those categories, signing it here will not make it valid. Check with the person who sent it, or with your own lawyer, before you continue.

[TO BE CONFIRMED: the exclusion list Signitri states, per jurisdiction, and whether the product blocks any document category outright.]

4. What you will be asked to do

It takes about two minutes, and it happens in this order.

You open the link sent to you by email or by WhatsApp.
You photograph a government photo ID — a passport, a driver’s license, or a national ID card.
You take a photograph of your face with the camera on your phone or computer.
You wait a short time while the checks in section 5 run.
You read the document.
You sign it, by drawing your signature, typing it, or uploading one.

You need the ID in your hand and a working camera. If you do not have both, stop and contact the person who sent the document rather than sending photographs of someone else’s ID.

5. What is checked, and by whom

The identity check is carried out by ThisIsMe, a company Signitri uses for exactly this purpose. Your ID image, the details printed on it, and your photograph are sent to them.

Four things are checked: that the ID is readable and its details are consistent, that the ID number is valid, that a live person is present rather than a photograph held up to a camera, and that the face in your photograph matches the face on the ID.

There are three possible results. The check passes and you continue. The check lands below the automatic threshold, in which case a person looks at it by hand — nothing is wrong, and you will be told when it is done. Or the check does not pass, in which case you cannot sign, and you should contact the person who sent the document.

A passed check means the checks returned a match. It is not a guarantee, and nobody should describe it as one.

What happens to your ID image and your photograph afterward is set out in the privacy notice, which treats them as the most sensitive thing the service handles.

6. What is recorded when you sign

More is recorded than most people expect, and you should know all of it before you agree rather than after.

When you opened the link, when you opened the document, and when you signed, each timestamped in UTC.
The internet address you connected from, and the browser and device you used.
The result of your identity check, including the score the face match returned.
Your signature. If you draw it, what is kept is not only the picture: the path your finger or cursor took is recorded, along with the timing between points along it and, on devices that report it, how hard you pressed. That is information about how you write, not only about what you wrote, and it counts as biometric information in several places. It is kept because it is part of what makes the signature hard to deny later. Typing or uploading a signature does not record any of it.

All of it is written to a record that is not edited afterward, including by Signitri. A record that could be rewritten would not be worth keeping.

7. What happens after the last person signs

When everyone has signed, the document is sealed and does not change again. Sealed with it is the full record described in section 6: who signed, when, from where, how each person’s identity was checked, and a cryptographic fingerprint — a SHA-256 hash — that anyone can recompute to show the file has not been altered since.

The person who sent you the document receives all of that. [TO BE CONFIRMED: whether the signer automatically receives a copy of the signed document and the record, by which channel, and how long the download link stays live.]

8. Getting a copy on paper

You have the right to be given this document on paper instead of on a screen, and to ask for a paper copy of the signed version afterward. Asking for one does not affect the validity of anything you have already signed.

[TO BE CONFIRMED: who a paper copy is requested from — the sender or Signitri — how the request is made, how long it takes, and whether any fee may be charged. ESIGN requires this to be stated exactly, including the fee.]

9. Saying no, and changing your mind

You do not have to sign electronically. If you decline, you cannot complete this document through Signitri, and you should contact the person who sent it to arrange another way. Declining costs you nothing here.

You can also withdraw your agreement later, for documents you have not yet signed. Withdrawing does not undo a signature you have already made — a signed document stays signed, and the record of it stays as it is.

[TO BE CONFIRMED: how a signer withdraws consent — an address, a link, or a request to the sender — what it costs, how long it takes to take effect, and what happens to a document that is part-way through signing.]

10. What you need in order to sign and keep a copy

To sign, and to be able to keep a copy of what you signed, you need all of the following.

A phone, tablet or computer with a current web browser.
A working camera on that device, for the ID and the photograph of your face.
An internet connection.
A working email address, or the phone number the link was sent to.
A way to open, save or print a PDF, so that you can keep the signed document. If you cannot store it yourself, request a paper copy under section 8 instead.

[TO BE CONFIRMED: the exact supported browser and operating system versions, and the minimum camera requirement. ESIGN requires a statement of the hardware and software needed to access and retain electronic records, and “a current web browser” is not specific enough to satisfy it.]

11. Keeping your contact details current

Notices about this document go to the email address or phone number the sender used. If it changes before you have signed, tell the sender. Signitri cannot change it for you, because the sender is the one who chose it.

[TO BE CONFIRMED: whether a signer can update their own contact details mid-flow, and what the sender sees if they do.]

12. Who to ask

About the document itself — what it says, what it commits you to, why you are being asked to sign it — ask the person or organization that sent it. They wrote it, and Signitri has not read it on your behalf.

About the signing service, the identity check, or what happened to your data, contact Signitri at hello@signitri.com. [TO BE CONFIRMED: a dedicated signer support address, a postal address, and whether a phone number is offered.]

If you are unsure whether to sign at all, ask your own lawyer. That is not a formality in this document — it is the honest answer.

You give it in the signing flow itself, by checking the box shown before your signature is applied. This page is the text of what that box refers to. Checking it confirms that you were able to read this page on the device you are using, which is itself part of what the law requires.

Keep a copy of this page. If you signed something through Signitri and later need to know what you agreed to, [TO BE CONFIRMED: whether the version of this disclosure in force on the date of signing is archived and retrievable, and how a signer asks for it. Without that, the consent is difficult to prove years later — which is the whole point of the record.]