Plausible deniability?

(Daily Mail) — President Obama, or rather a machine impersonating his signature, signed the controversial Patriot Act only minutes before the midnight deadline, extending anti-terrorism measures enacted in the wake of 9/11.

Mr Obama did not sign the act personally as he was 3,725 miles and six time zones away in France at a meeting of G8 world leaders, so a presidential autopen was used instead.

The White House said the President had approved use of the autopen, a machine which holds a pen and signs his actual signature.

Mr Obama was awoken at 5:45am in his hotel room in Deauville, France, so that he could review and approve the bill and authorise his signature, with only minutes to go before the deadline passed in the U.S.