Digital Signatures Bill 1999

The Digital Signatures Bill seeks to regulate the use of digital signatures and the legal framework to make them work such as the regulation of certification authorities who issue certificates to persons.

The Bill was withdrawn from Parliament. Some possible complaints :

  • The bill is long, divided into 7 parts and has about 90 clauses in all which makes for very tough reading and understanding.
  • The bill focused in detail on only using asymmetric encryption (using public and private keys) for authenticating signatures. What if other technologies could be used (e.g biometric recognition)?
  • Clause 79 “Search and seizure (of police) without warrant” is controversial.