I finally got my hands on one of these intriguing little buddies, the sIgnature SP. As you can see, its a pen.

It cost me 4k and I'll prolly never use it, but its funk and rare and worth 6 on ebay I reckon. It feels heavy, like a Mont Blanc Nevee, but it isn't that kind of craftsmanship - its a bit sony. *shrugs* So what do you get for your 4 big ones:

• A pen that writes in blue chemically unique ink. As in, each pen has a unique and easy to scan chemical composition. (You can get a scanner that will authenticate for another 2k, but you don't need it).
• It has 2 hi res cameras (nib and top) that record what is being written was well as the face of the person writing. (It conforms with MeID 1.1, which is good)
  
• A sphere motion sensor (like in the Fin pointers). This motion data is all tied in with the camera images.
  
• The ball in the nib is istelf is a sensor that works out the path on the paper.
• The side of the pen is a fingerprint scanner. One of the new weak filed ones. You just can see it in the picture.
• GPS tracker.

How does it work?

The idea is that the sIgnature SP will be used for signing important business documents and stuff like that. It says on their website that the UN and the World Bank are using them, so that’s a good plug.

The SP only works when connected. When you want it to authenticate a signature or signatures, you simply blue in and give it the MeID of the signatories. It then downloads all the data it needs for those MeIDs and blues back that it’s ready. It took less than a second for me.

When you sign with it, all of the data recorded by the sensors is hashed together in real time and compared with the MeID data it has. At the same time it uploads the signature data to the proprietary sIgnature waterhouse. So the time, location and biometrics of the person are locked in with the act of signing. At the same time it can blue out confirmation that the people who signed were the people who were supposed to sign.

It is all pretty nifty. Impostors can’t sign and fakes are not possible and there is a digitally eternal record that the document was signed.

Any downers?:

1. They charge $70 each time it’s used but will release the data off free of charge at your request. That’s pretty good I suppose. I guess it's not aimed for home use.
2. Their watermark server isn’t connected to Open Waterhouse. There is no need for this and it would add extra certainty and reliability – I guess their reasoning is its already certain enough.
3. They claim its impossible to fake but I reckon if you could get physical access to their waterhouse and some q-grid access you could pop it. It wouldn’t be easy, but it would be possible – that’s my guess.

Conclusion

For what its does is awesome. But I cant help think is what it does needed or is it just another avenue for commercialising. I have never heard of signatures being contested or doubted. At least no recently and a search on google legal doesn’t show up much.

If you want to prove with certainty that you signed your new rental (or maybe global peace treaty) in person at that time and place, then you need this pen. Offer me 4k and it is yours, else its going ebay.

(This pen is featured in The Final Chapters)