[tressa]

I am reviewing an E-SIGN consent and disclosure for possible updates concerning the system hardware/software requirements. The E-SIGN Act states that prior to consenting to the use of an electronic record, a consumer must be provided with a statement of the hardware and software requirements for access to and retention of electronic records. I am thinking that some of this information could be generic and it’s not necessary to provide actual versions of hardware/software which changes so frequently. For example, it could read “In order to view electronic communications you must have software that accurately reads and displays .pdf files, such as Adobe Reader – instead of it reading “In order to view electronic communications you must have Adobe Reader version 18.0 or higher.”
Do you agree?

Topic

[jholzknecht]

The E-Sign Act does not indicate how specific the system explanation must be. There are no implementing regulations. You have to guess how specific the judge expects the requirements to be.

If the customer has an older version of Adobe Reader and is unable to open and read the documents, the judge will likely rule against your generic language. So, your generic language might work, but the specific language is safer.

[Author]

Replies