A JSON Web Signature (abbreviated JWS) is an IETF-proposed standard (RFC 7515) for signing arbitrary data.
[1] This is used as the basis for a variety of web-based technologies including JSON Web Token.
[2] JWS can be used for applications in which digitally signed information must be sent in a machine-readable format, such as e-commerce.
For example, say a user named Bob is browsing widget prices on a web site (widgets.com), and wishes to get a quote on one of them.
Then widgets.com could provide Bob with a JWS object containing all relevant information about the widget, including the price, then sign it using their private key.