the one benefit i see is as a final “lock in your answer” function for any form you’re submitting.

And did they have to stop allowing written signatures because of AI scraping? Or is it just because they never looked legible at all?

  • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    25 days ago

    physical signatures are just asking you to write your name in a box…

    Not a huge difference.

    • FinjaminPoach@lemmy.worldOP
      0·
      24 days ago

      No I disagree, the idea with physical signatures is that you write it in cursive, so in theory nobody will do ot exactly the same way as you write it - but then people can forge things, and since people don’t actually write their name the exact same way every time, forgery is essentially as good as perfect.

      Edit to fix typo and add italics.

      • Khanzarate@lemmy.world
        0·
        24 days ago

        Signatures have never required cursive. Historically, people who couldn’t read or write would just put an X in the signature spot and that was valid. Yeah, there is a marginal benefit to physically signing something in cursive, but the purpose of signing it has always been more of a final agreement step.

        If handwriting and spelling and how I signed it actually mattered at all legally, then I could sign a different name when I buy a car, get keys, drive away, and later in court, say “well I never agreed to pay for this car, look at my signature, it says Frank Sinatra”. Same goes for a true forgery. The evidence I didn’t sign it myself is my statement in court saying “I didn’t sign this”, and whatever signs there are that I didn’t benefit from this.

      • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
        0·
        24 days ago

        And, most young adults don’t sign in cursive anymore, so, aside from terrible handwriting, their printed name isn’t really much different than a typed name.

      • BlackVenom@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        24 days ago

        “in cursive”

        Laughs in years of deviating but programmed hand movements from which letters are rarely decipherable…

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        24 days ago

        Nobody has relied only on signatures to verify that a person signed it, since forever. Especially because forgery was always a thing.

        This is why documents that are important aren’t just signed by one person; they’re signed by witnesses who presumably will vouch for it. (Like notary public’s are a thing.)

        For lesser contracts they first verify you are in fact you.

        There’s no functional difference online- to within a reasonable standard.