Why is email address required for digital sig?

[Michelle_Master]

Hi, all.  Thanks, in advance, for any help :-)

We have created an application in LiveCycle and have incorporated digital signatures to allow applicants to sign the various forms within the application, including W-4 and I-9.  Here is the next question....

By default, the digital signature cannot be created without entering an email address.  The problem there, is that we have some applicants who do not have an email address (yes, there are still humans on the planet who don't have an email address :-).  Is there a way to get around this?  That can't be the only legally valid personal information that can be used to create a digital sig?  Can we offer an option if they don't have an email address?  We don't want to instruct them to enter bogus information.

Thanks,

Michelle

[Former Community Member]

Michelle

When Acrobat is used to create a digital certificate, it is creating a self-signed certificate that conforms to the X509 certificate standard.  I haven't read the X509 spec from start to finish, but I would assue that the standard dictates that the e-mail (which is part of the "Subject" section of a certificate) is mandatory.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X.509 for a bit more info on digital certificates

As for your statement "That can't be the only legally valid personal information that can be used to create a digital sig?", I don't believe there is anything legally binding or valid about a self-signed certificate as anyone can create one with any information they want.

Regards

Steve