The practice of authenticating documents by affixing handwritten signatures began to be used within the Roman Empire in the year AD 439, during the rule of Valentinian III when a short handwritten sentence at the end of a document stating that the signer "subscribed" to the document.[1] Such a practice of affixing signatures has remained unchanged till now.

Digital signatures were not considered to be same as ink signatures before 1844. In 1867, the court found that telegraphed signatures met the legal requirements for written signatures.[2] This was where ecommerce succeeded for the first time.

The essential differences between both the types of signatures is that there is a great possibility of the ink signature being forged or copied to other documents while such a thing is not possible in a digital signature because of the encryption process it passes through. Proper authentication is maintained here. When multiple papers are handed over for a single ink signature to be made on the last page only, there is a possibility that papers can be changed later. But, in a digital document, the digital signature is encrypted immediately after it is made. Documents cannot be changed and it is properly taken care of.

This is how digital signatures increase the levels of security and legality of an electronic contract. Considering digital signature a vital part of the e-contract, the e-contracts need to be segregated as follows:

Shrink wrap: A general shrink wrap is a protective plastic film used to cover a product/merchandise and seal it. Similarly, a shrink wrap contract is an unsigned contract where acceptance of contract can be read and made immediately after opening the wrap. It is a kind of licence agreement with term and conditions. The term describes the shrink wrap plastic wrapping used to coat software boxes, though these contracts are not limited to the software industry.[3]

Click wrap: A click wrap contract is where a simple click can lead to acceptance of an agreement. It is where we are provided with options like “I Agree” and “Cancel”. Click wrap contracts are usually the ‘Take it or leave it’ contracts where the buyer lacks the power to bargain.

Browse wrap: Browse wrap contracts are easily known as “No Click” contracts. Such contracts are accepted by mere browsing of a particular website which has “Terms of Use”. These terms are bound to be accepted when we surf the particular website without any requirement of click options.