I thought Italy was the land of bureaucracy.
An overseas company wants a certificate for my company. I need to go to a specific office to get it and then scan it. I could get the same document online, but it wouldn't be signed. However, it’s a certificate where I declare... so I would just sign it digitally anyway. But no, they want the paper version, scanned, and then sent to them.
It doesn't make any sense.
@stefano You could use ImageMagick to get that scanned look: convert -density 90 input.pdf -rotate 0.5 -attenuate 0.2 +noise Multiplicative -colorspace Gray output.pdf (/via https://chaos.social/@jiska/110848328479540118)
@stefano Joking aside, this is called "Schriftformerfordernis" in Germany, and it hampers the goverment's own digitization efforts. In many cases, a manual signature is the only thing that establishes a legally binding document, and a scan of that document is proof of its existence. So the requirement makes sense from a legal viewpoint.
@jan I hadn't considered this point of view: scanning it means it exists. In case of problems, you need to provide the original, signed one. Yes, it makes sense.
@stefano The license for one of the software programs I use must be printed, signed, placed in an envelope, and mailed to the research group at a university in Germany; they don't accept faxes or PDFs, only the original. At least they don't require a seal with a ring stamp.
@stefano I have an image of my signature which I paste on pdfs before sending back, to avoid wasting paper
@luca @stefano better if the signature image is blue, so it looks like the scan of a real paper document with a handwritten signature, not something digital (the horror)
Edited to add: this is a true story from when I used to send e-learning certificates. It was a pdf anyway, and the trainer worked from home, so we'd use their scanned signature. Not many complained, but all complaints were for black signatures. Blue must have felt more official.
@Linkshaender @Ann_in_a @stefano we need also the sign left by a coffee cup
This would help, too
@Linkshaender @Ann_in_a @luca I used to do it, many years ago, but it's been a long time since I had to send a signed document this way
@stefano Another great Bureaucracy case here in Germany!
I had to go to the municipal office to apply for a new ID card, filled out a form online in their computer with a digital signature (why not), only to leave again. I then had to pick up the ID card, and activating it requires a PIN, which I will receive by mail because it is more secure.
But hey, I was able to make the appointment at the office online on their website.
@raven I think the procedure is the same, here. I'll have to get there next week - I'll check 😆
@stefano running a business in the UK I used to get a lot of bigger and older UK companies requiring a "wet signature" on paperwork. The punchline being that they would then accept it as a PDF scan. So as a small act of subversion I used to put a signature on it in software, print it, "scan" it to PDF with my phone, and then email that. Totally daft.
