Signatures and Law

May 13, 2007 11:05 AM

In Canada, is it illegal to post someone's signature on the internet without their consent?
posted by Knigel to law & government (3 comments total)

IANAL but I imagine, a signature being something other than merely a word or words and perhaps more like a unique hieroglyph or image, that a person probably holds the copyright in his/her own signature.
posted by londongeezer at 11:36 AM on May 13, 2007

It strikes me that doing so could be interpreted as abetting identity theft, since it could permit someone else to learn to forge that signature.

I doubt it's illegal but it's entirely possible that it's actionable.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 12:40 PM on May 13, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

I'm 99% sure our name is NOT considered personal information by any Canadian privacy legislation (PIPEDA, etc). However in past research of said laws I was never looking with a specific eye towards the use of signature.

The privacy commissioner of Canada has a good M-F 1-800 line that will probably get you to an investigator and get you a preliminary answer within an hour or so. I waited on hold last time I called, but I got an actual investigative attorney, not a min wage call center person reading from a script.
posted by tiamat at 2:01 PM on May 13, 2007