Electronic Signature

A signature is a stylized script associated with a person. It is comparable to a seal. In commerce and the law, a signature on a document is an indication that the person adopts the intentions recorded in the document. An electronic signature is any legally recognized electronic means that indicates that a person adopts the contents of an electronic message. The U.S. Code defines an electronic signature as "an electronic sound, symbol, or process, attached to or logically associated with a contract or other record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record. It may be an electronic transmission of the document which contains the signature, as in the case of facsimile transmissions, or it may be encoded message, such as telegraphy using more

The Hong Kong data protection regulatory framework

The main privacy law in Hong Kong is the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap 486) (the Ordinance). The Ordinance, which generally reflects the OECD guidelines for the Protection of Privacy and Trans-border Flows of Personal Data (1980), has been in force since December 1996. The purpose of the Ordinance is to protect individuals’ right to privacy by regulating the handling of personal data in Hong Kong. It applies to any person or organisation, both public and private, that collects, holds, processes or uses personal data.

Hong Kong has a very advanced data protection regulatory framework compared to the rest of Asia, where the extent of personal data protection varies across the region but in general it is still at an embryonic stage. Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia have implemented laws and regulations to govern the protection of personal data, however in most cases protection is sector specific or fragmented through various pieces of legislation. The implementation of a data protection law is still being considered in China, Thailand, India and Philippines

The Biology of Data Protection

Interest in the right of privacy increased in the 1960s and 1970s with the advent of information technology. The surveillance potential of powerful computer systems prompted demands for specific rules governing the collection and handling of personal information. The genesis of modern legislation in this area can be traced to the first data protection law in the world enacted in the Land of Hesse in Germany in 1970. This was followed by national laws in Sweden (1973), the United States (1974), Germany (1977), and France (1978).
Two crucial international instruments evolved from these laws. The Council of Europe's 1981 Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to the Automatic Processing of Personal Data and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guidelines Governing the Protection of Privacy

Technologies of Privacy

With the recent development of commercially available technology-based systems, privacy protection has also moved into the hands of individual users. Users of the Internet and of some physical applications can employ a range of programs and systems that provide varying degrees of privacy and security of communications. These include encryption, anonymous remailers, proxy servers and digital cash. Users should be aware that not all tools effectively protect privacy. Some are poorly designed while others may be designed to facilitate law enforcement access. (For more discussion of this subject, see the sub-section on Privacy Enhancing Technologies).

Privacy is a fundamental human right

Privacy is recognized around the world in diverse regions and cultures. It is protected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and in many other international and regional human rights treaties. Nearly every country in the world includes a right of privacy in its constitution. At a minimum, these provisions include rights of inviolability of the home and secrecy of communications. Most recently written constitutions include specific rights to access and control one's personal information. In many of the countries where privacy is not explicitly recognized in the constitution, the courts have found that right in other provisions. In many countries, international agreements that recognize privacy rights such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights or the European Convention on Human Rights have been adopted into law.

The law of electronic contract in Malaysia

The Sale of Goods Act 1957 (Malaysia) provides certain implied conditions and warranties for a sale contract to protect the interest of buyers. These implied conditions and warranties are as follows:
• It is an implied condition that the seller must have a right to sell the goods;
• It is an implied warranty that the buyer shall have and enjoy quiet possession of the goods;
• It is an implied warranty that the goods shall be free from any charge or encumbrance in favour of any third party not declared or known to the buyer before or at the time when the contract is made;
• Where there is a contract for sale of goods by description there is an implied condition that the goods shall correspond with the description;
• The goods should be reasonably fit for the buyer's purpose;
• The goods should be of merchantable quality if bought by description from a seller who deals in goods of that description;
• In case of a contract for sale by sample in quality there is an implied condition that the bulk shall correspond with the sample in quality and the buyer shall have reasonable opportunity to compare the bulk with the sample.
It is necessary to consider the extent to which these terms are applicable to contracts executed online

Background of Electronic contract in Malaysia

The provisions of the Contracts Act 1950 (Malaysia) were taken from the Contract Act 1872 (India) which was in line with common law in the UK. The Contracts Act was amended in 1974 and its provisions are more or less similar to the applicable contract laws in the UK. The sources of contract law in Malaysia are the Contracts Act 1950, the Sale of Goods Act 1957, English common law, rules of equity, English commercial law in general and decisions of Malaysian courts. The decisions of English courts relating to contractual issues are persuasive in Malaysia if not contrary to the provisions of the Contracts Act 1950. English common law, rules of equity and commercial law in general are applicable in Malaysia under sections 3 and 5 of the Civil Law Act 1956 (Malaysia) so far as they are suitable for the local circumstances of Malaysia