(This is from memory, so I’m paraphrasing, but this is pretty close.)
“You must make the following declaration: You swear under penalty of perjury that the information you’ve provided here is correct. To make this declaration, press 1.” — The Massachusetts Telefile system
I have to wonder just how legally enforceable that is.
Also, for federal taxes, I’d like to recommend TaxAct, because they’re free (without the income limits the other online providers have for free services). They just really, really, really try to upsell you to their “deluxe” and state tax products. I had a pretty good experience with them. And, I just can’t bring myself to pay any money, to anybody, just to get back what’s already mine, and been mine all along.
Clinton signed a law in the late 90s making electronic signatures as legally binding as written signatures.
Yes; I’d heard of that. But is pressing “1” really a signature? There’s no authentication involved there whatsoever.
In a previous year (this may be a few years ago), MA Telefile had you speak your name at a tone, which at least feels like something that could be authenticated.
Since when are signatures about authentication?
Ah, uh… er… *HEADASPLODE*
Well, signatures are generally about giving approval, and a declaration of agreeing to something. But I certainly couldn’t sign a document to force you to agree to something, so in order for a contract signed by you to be enforceable, I’d expect that someone would need to prove that you were, in fact, the one who signed it. A written or spoken signature certainly seems easier to do that with than a pressing-1-on-my-phone does.
it’s not unreasonable to think that.
But the way the law developed authentication was never an issue when it came to signatures. That’s why seals were developed: to allow multiple parties to sign for the same person by simply affixing the head person’s seal to whatever needed to be signed.
It’s also why legal signatures need not contain the name of the person whose signing them.
I see… Basically, me typing in my PIN at the start of the call was me authenticating, and pressing 1 for this declaration was just agreement to the declaration. That does kind of make sense.
The only part that doesn’t work as well for that is that I’m supposed to pass the phone to my wife, so that she can press 1. They have no way of knowing whether I actually did that or not. But that’s probably not as much of an issue.