Discuss the federal Uniform Electronic Commerce Act (UECA).

The UECA has no legal standing but it serves as a model for the design of provincial legislation throughout Canada. The object is to make electronic documents and signatures as binding on parties as written ones. In general, the UECA recognizes electronic or digitally stored documents and signatures as satisfying those requirements. A signature equivalent may be a password or some other form of encryption that is controlled by the author of the document. The password or encryption would authenticate the document and give it the same status as one that was written and signed.