12

Footnote 12

Cf. The U.S. Comptroller General's rationale for accepting digital signatures as sufficient for government contracts under 31 U.S.C. 1501(a)(1): "The electronic symbol proposed for use by certifying officers . . . embodied all of the attributes of a valid, acceptable signature: it was unique to the certifying officer, capable of verification, and under his sole control such that one might presume from its use that the certifying officer, just as if he had written his name in his own hand, intended to be bound." In re National Institute of Standards and Technology — Use of Electronic Data Interchange to Create Valid Obligations, file B-245714 ( Comptroller Gen'l, 1991).