Electronic Signature Pads? 14
Peter Lakanen asks: "You know those electronic pads you use to sign your name at Circuit City, Sears or other places? I have a client who wants to be able to do that at branch offices. I've been researching the availability of electronic signature pads and have been sorely disappointed at the dearth of information readily available on the topic. Do any Slashdotters out there know of any companies that sell a device that allows someone to sign their name and then have software convert that signature to an image file to be stored or used in an application? Unfortunately, I'm looking for a Win32 solution but would be interested in hearing about any solutions for other systems (*nix, mac, proprietary, etc)." While a complete solution for this isn't a bad thing, why not use cheap digitizers?
Easy (Score:4)
Since you're looking for a specific piece of hardware, it shouldn't be too hard to find it.
Touch Pads? (Score:1)
Wacom tablets (Score:1)
If you need to slide in a receipt like they do at Circuit City, a bit of plastic cut to shape and glued to the tablet shoudl work beautifully. The Graphire comes with a plastic shield anyway - just cut three/fourths of a box out of it and slide the receipt right in.
Hope this helps!
Ben
Go look. (Score:3)
UPS and FedEx... (Score:1)
Re:Wacom tablets (Score:1)
dufke
-
Where ever you implement this . . . (Score:1)
. . . I will not shop there.
As a computer security professional, I truly believe I cannot trust my digitised signature being held by commercial entities. They have nothing to lose if some miscreant absconds with it and misuses it. How could I prove it's a forgery? I CAN'T!
Re:FDA Says Water Causes Cancer (Score:2)
--
I walked out... (Score:2)
Despite my protests, the manager still insisted that I sign the "pad". I told him no, got my card back, and said I could buy my merchandise at more enlightened vendors, like Home Depot.
Is it any wonder that HomeBase is going under now (ok, maybe it has nothing to do with the pads, but it would be a nice thought)?
I never once used these pads when they first appeared at Best Buy. Then Sears got them, then HomeBase - even the post office has them (though they don't use them - yet). I tend to wonder how long it will be before they start to take a picture of your face at time of checkout (and in theory, they already do with the numerous security cameras in most places).
Kinda makes you want to wear a ski-mask and gloves whereever you shop and pay with cash (of course, once routine DNA collecting occurs, it won't matter).
Worldcom [worldcom.com] - Generation Duh!
Re:Where ever you implement this . . . (Score:2)
As a computer security professional, I understand that technology does not exist in complete isolation from the law.
A signature on a document is only one piece of evidence that you intended to be bound by a legal contract. The signature is not a magic spell, it's only part of a so-called "evidentiary chain," that is used to demonstrate that you did, in fact, agree to do something.
Now, if you repudiate that contract, the signature will be brought into court as evidence. You will deny having executed that signature. The other party will ask "how else could this signature exist?" You will say that it was forged. They will consult an expert who will inform the court that it's a damned good forgery, and that it's incredibly unlikely that any human could forge your signature so well. Your expert will inform the court that the signature has been electronically captured by a machine and could have been mechanically forged quite easily. The court will look for other evidence, to determine who is lying. The other party will demand to search your posessions for the property in question, to show that you do actually own the item which you said you didn't purchase. And in the end, the court will decide who is telling the truth, same as today.
Also, please note that your signature can be extracted from paper documents as easily as it can be extracted from an electronic pad. If anything, the electronic pad data is less prone to abuse.
Not just a bitmap (Score:2)
Re:Not just a bitmap (Score:1)
You can check out http://www.synaptics.com
I am not affiliated but I like the touchpad in my laptop.
Re:Where ever you implement this . . . (Score:1)
As several other people have pointed out, it is just as easy to steal and misuse a paper signature as a digital image of one.
The problem is that it is impossible for the store using these devices to distinguish between a real image of a signature and a forged one (imagine a device spliced in between the signature pad and the cash register with record/playback functions).
But the store is the one that wants proof that I actually made the purchase. If they choose to have extremely weak proof, that doesn't really hurt me very much at all. Certainly no more than the fact that stores rarely check signatures, and certainly aren't well-trained enough to detect even a mediocre forgery. In either of these circumstances, if the store tried to insist I had really signed a sales slip, we'd end up in court, experts would testify that their proof is very weak, and that would be that.
Re:Where ever you implement this . . . (Score:2)
_____________