We are all getting used to checking a box and putting our name in a text field to create a contract with an airline, a hosting company, or a software download. However, for some reason I am still asking clients to sign our contracts for website development on paper, and send me a scan. Few complain about this procedure, but I am personally thinking: what am I doing, doing this the old fashion way?! Signing contracts digitally would be faster, more convenient for clients and for me, and easier to store.
So to me it appears to be time to start creating some contract agreement online that clients can read, then print their name, and mark a box "I AGREE WITH THIS CONTRACT AND BY PRINTING MY NAME I AGREE TO SIGNING THIS", or something like that. I would record their IP, browser data, and time of signing. If I really want to ensure their identity, I could link this to OpenID and require them to log in with their e-mail so that I can ensure that they are logged in on an existing e-mail account. Sounds OK to me.
My question is: is this practice becoming a standard practice in professional IT services? Are you (as a professional) doing this? If you are, how do clients react? Any drawbacks doing this?
EDIT:
This question is not about the legal aspects. It is about common practices among programmers and web-development companies, and what clients think of this.
