What is the legal value of an advanced signature?
The European eIDAS regulation defines three signature levels:
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Simple
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Advanced
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Qualified
The difference between the simple signature and the advanced signature is relatively simple itself:
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The simple signature will provide contextual elements around the signature (IP address, geolocation, time and date stamp, etc.) and is often paired with a double authentication system with a text message code for added security.
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The advanced signature should enable, in addition to contextual elements, the unequivocal identification of the individual who has signed the document. In other words, it should collect personal information (under the terms of the GDPR, for example), which will enable the individual to be identified. In the event of a dispute, it will allow for additional and more robust evidence to be provided, to prove that a given individual was (or was not) the signatory. It can also be combined with an text message code system, although this serves more to protect access to the document rather than identify the signatory.
The qualified signature concerns documents presenting a very high level of legal risk, such as notarial deeds, and does not concern HR documents. It provides highly structured identity verifications, which are generally physical with certified signature materials.
The Core HR signature is an advanced signature.
How can a signature drawn with a mouse or on a touch screen be more secure that a text message code on the signatory's phone?
The text message code secures the signature process by limiting risks. However, in the event of a dispute, it doesn't irrefutably prove that the signatory was indeed the owner of the phone. The phone may have been stolen or taken, etc. when the signature occurred.
Inversely, the drawing of the signature is specific to each individual and may be used by a handwriting expert to identify the signatory. It provides greater security for the procedure in the event of a dispute. Just like a handwritten signature, the elements reviewed will be the shape, signature speed, contact points and pressure applied (if using a touch screen).
I'd like to have the option of typing in my first and last name, with my signature being automatically created.
In relation to the previous paragraph, if we remove the biometric nature of the signature, enabled by tracing the signature with your mouse or on a touch screen, the signature will lose its value.
The signatory won't be able to exactly reproduce their handwritten signature
An individual's electronic signature doesn't have to be identical to their handwritten signature. In the event of a dispute, the signatory will have to sign electronically multiple times in order for the handwriting expert to be able to compare their signatures with the one added to the document subject to the dispute. This procedure is the same as that applied to handwritten signatures.
I need my signatories to initial each page of my documents
Initialing is a practice specific to handwritten signatures that can "prove" that all pages constituting the signed document have been read. It can also be used to show that nobody has added any further pages at a later date.
By its nature, the electronic signature meets both of these needs as, once the document is signed, it can no longer be edited. The initials are then no longer required.
Signatories can sign without having read the whole document
There is no way of ensuring that the signatory has read the entire document, whether they're signing it electronically or by hand.
Generally, there's an obligation to have to scroll down to the bottom of the document in order to be able to sign it, but this only obliges the signatory to go to the bottom of the document, not to read it.
Furthermore, most service providers using this mechanism also give signatories a button that takes them directly to the required fields/signature fields. Clicking on this button then automatically scrolls through the document.