The interesting thing about whether e-mail could be considered writing is that this is the very case where the judge allowed Mattel to e-mail the subpoenas out. Assuming that public key verification can be used as a signature (I have no idea about the legal status of that) and that it was used in this case, the argument that it should count could certainly be made. However, since the subpeonas were backed up by hardcopies which were mailed, I doubt that it would carry through at this time. My only qualification for legal ruminations, BTW, is having a friend in law school who talks to me a lot about the subject, so take this for what it's worth.
Slashdot Mirror
The interesting thing about whether e-mail could be considered writing is that this is the very case where the judge allowed Mattel to e-mail the subpoenas out. Assuming that public key verification can be used as a signature (I have no idea about the legal status of that) and that it was used in this case, the argument that it should count could certainly be made. However, since the subpeonas were backed up by hardcopies which were mailed, I doubt that it would carry through at this time. My only qualification for legal ruminations, BTW, is having a friend in law school who talks to me a lot about the subject, so take this for what it's worth.