The US Senate has passed a bill designed to protect consumers by setting standards for electronic signatures. If it passes into law, the Millennium Digital Commerce bill will ensure that contracts will carry exactly the same legal weight whether they exist in physical or digital form, and whether they are signed by hand or electronically. The bill’s sponsor, Senator Patrick Leahy, described the legislation as an interim measure for use until states have their own laws governing the use of digital signatures in e-commerce. Last week, the House of Representatives passed a different bill covering similar ground. Now the two bills must be reconciled in a conference committee and handed back to both chambers for final approval.
