The European Commission will revise the E-Signatures Directive in 2011 in a bid to encourage businesses to make more use of electronic invoices. The Directive will be changed to make it easier for electronic signatures from different EU member states to be read, recognised and accepted. The change is one of a number planned by …

A petition to hold an emergency general meeting of the British Computing Society (BCS) has been turned down because the signatures were electronic. BCS, known by some wags as the Dad's Army of IT or, thanks to a recent rebrand, as the chartered institute of IT, declined to consider a motion from 50 members demanding a debate …

German bank Postbank is going to introduce electronic signatures to all email correspondence with its customers in an attempt to curb phishing. By clicking on the symbol in the email, customers can see whether the e-signature is valid. Last year, the bank introduced a new transaction number system (iTAN) to protect customers …

ID cards programmes and e-government initiatives are hoped to spur the development of an electronic signatures market across the EU, according to the European Commission. The commission is concerned that low take up of e-signatures across Europe is slowing down trade in goods and services online. It wants the public sector to …

The US House of Representatives failed to pass a bill which would have given legal weight to electronic signatures, primarily due to party posturing in anticipation of the 2000 elections. Democrats were particularly loath to support the bill in the face of criticism that it could undermine consumer protections by enabling …

David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, last week recommended that online "e-petitions" should be given formal recognition within Britain's constitution. The Prime Minister's controversial e-petitions website, which forms part of the 10 Downing Street official website, allows users to start campaigns on specific topics …