AP reported on 5/20/94:

The federal government will begin using computer-generated signatures to verify the identities of people submitting bids, contracts and other information electronically. [...] It is up to people outside the government to decide whether they want to use the standard, which produces the electronic signature. Government agencies that currently use some other method of electronic verification will have to switch to the new standard on Dec. 1, said Miles Smid, manager of security and technology for the institutes. [...]

[The standard employs] a 320-bit number that makes up the electronic signature. The government computer then compares the signature against the person's public key, which would be stored in a government database.

Brad bdolan@well.sf.ca.us