Today I was at the Internet Expo in Boston and I sent myself a postmarked email from the USPS booth. It is enclosed below for all to scrutinize. Here is an excerpt from the literature they had: "The United States Postal Service has entered into a limited market test phase for the Electronic Postmark, Archival, and Authentication Services. This is a fee for service test. The Electronic Postmark applies a time and date stamp to an electronic document, hashes it, and digitally signs the document with a Postal Service private key. ... The Electronic Postmark Processor time and date stamps the message, hashes it using the SHA hashing algorithm and digitally signs this with the Postal Service DSA 1024-bit private key. For the market trial we will use CCITT X.500 Section X.509 V3 certificate public/private key technology with the federal standard Digital Signature Algorithm." I will also paraphrase something that was said by one of the people at the booth: "We always send the message itself as an attachment. The message that you see at first shows the postmark, and warns you not to open the attachment if you are not the intended recipient. Just as with normal mail, it is a federal crime to double click on the attachment to view the contents of the message if the message is not for you." Further BS of this nature can be found at: http://www.aegisstar.com/uspsepm.html My favorite line from that web page is: Postal ECS plans on regularly changing the Postal Service private key as recommended by cryptography experts, which will only require the redistribution of the VERIFY.DLL file to Mail Reader users. Wow, it _only_ requires distributing a new public key to all users! As stated above, here is the message in its entirety, exactly as it arrived in my mailbox. Below that is the base64 decoded for your convenience. -jon ------- Forwarded Message Received: from PACIFIC-CARRIER-ANNEX.MIT.EDU by po9.MIT.EDU (5.61/4.7) id AA03633; Wed, 16 Oct 96 13:34:14 EDT Received: from corpmail.aegisstar.com by MIT.EDU with SMTP id AA26235; Wed, 16 Oct 96 13:34:13 EDT Received: from router1.fac1.aegisstar.com by aegisstar.com (SMI-8.6/SMI-SVR4) id KAA03398; Wed, 16 Oct 1996 10:33:24 -0700 From: demo3@hypersurf.com Received: by router1.fac1.aegisstar.com (SMI-8.6/AegisRouter) id RAA10130; Wed, 16 Oct 1996 17:33:40 GMT
X-Special-Header: Wed Oct 16 17:33:19 GMT 1996 Message-Id: <0.0.0.0.21828.1996.Oct.16.17.33.19@4.1.aegisstar.com> Date: Wed Oct 16 17:33:19 GMT 1996 Reply-To: demo3@hypersurf.com Errors-To: demo3@hypersurf.com Subject: test postmark To: littlitt@MIT.EDU Mime-Version: 1.0 (Aegis Star MIME v1.0) Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="PART.BOUNDARY.0.0.0.0.21828.1996.Oct.16.17.33.19@4.1.aegisstar.com"
- --PART.BOUNDARY.0.0.0.0.21828.1996.Oct.16.17.33.19@4.1.aegisstar.com Content-type: text/plain Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Description: read1st.txt Content-Name: read1st.txt ***************************************************************************** ******* U.S. Postal Service Electronically Postmarked Mail ******* Date & time: 1996/10/16 17:33:10 GMT ******* ECTPID: 00000119961016173310,3317 ******* Postmarked in Palo Alto, California ***************************************************************************** NOTICE: The Postal Service preserves the security of all electronically postmarked messages in its custody from unauthorized interception, inspection or reading of contents, or tampering, delay or other unauthorized acts. The attached message has been sent to you Electronically Postmarked by the United States Postal Service. The contents have been digitally signed and can be authenticated using the U.S. Postal Service Mail Reader (you can receive a free copy from http://www.aegisstar.com or e-mail us at support@aegisstar.com). If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any viewing, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this message is prohibited. Only littlitt@mit.edu may view the enclosed message. - --PART.BOUNDARY.0.0.0.0.21828.1996.Oct.16.17.33.19@4.1.aegisstar.com Content-type: application/x-USPSpostmarked; name=P0010CF5.msg Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=P0010CF5.msg Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64 Content-Description: U.S. Postal Service Mail Content-Name: P0010CF5.msg RnJvbSBkZW1vM0BoeXBlcnN1cmYuY29tICBXZWQgT2N0IDE2IDE3OjMzOjAzIDE5OTYNClgt QUVUWVBFOiBFUE0NClgtSUQ6IDMzMTcNClgtVVNQUy1OT1RJQ0U6ICBUaGlzIGRvY3VtZW50 IGhhcyBiZWVuIGVsZWN0cm9uaWNhbGx5IHBvc3RtYXJrZWQgYnkgdGhlIFVuaXRlZCBTdGF0 ZXMgUG9zdGFsIFNlcnZpY2UNClgtVElNRVNUQU1QOiAgMTk5Ni8xMC8xNiAxNzozMzoxMCBH TVQNClgtUE9TVEFHRTogIDIyLCA1OTMsIDENClgtU046ICA5ODYNClgtRE46ICBjPVVTQG89 VVNQUy1BZWdpcyBTdGFyIFBpbG90QGNuPVVTUFMsIEFFR0lTDQpYLVVTUFMtTk9USUNFOiAg RWxlY3Ryb25pYyBQb3N0bWFya2luZyBQaWxvdCBTeXN0ZW0NClgtVVNQUy1QT1NUTUFSSzog IEVDVFBJRCAgMDAwMDAxMTk5NjEwMTYxNzMzMTAsMzMxNw0KWC1SOiAgOThBNjhGOUY2MTE0 ODRCRUQ5NzI5M0ZBQkVBRkFCQUQyNjMyREZDMA0KWC1TOiAgQUE5QTIwN0Y2OTcwMTlCMjhD RDI0N0Q0QTkwRkU2OTVFMDZCODQ4Rg0KWC1ERVNUOiBsaXR0bGl0dEBtaXQuZWR1DQo+RnJv bSBkZW1vM0BoeXBlcnN1cmYuY29tICBXZWQgT2N0IDE2IDE3OjMzOjAzIDE5OTYNCk1lc3Nh Z2UtSWQ6IDwxOTk2MTAxNjE3MzkuS0FBMjIzNDRAbWVyY3VyeS5oeXBlcnN1cmYuY29tPg0K RnJvbTogIlVTUFMgRGVtbzMiIDxkZW1vM0BoeXBlcnN1cmYuY29tPg0KVG86IChwb3N0bWFy a2luZyBzeXN0ZW0pDQpTdWJqZWN0OiB0ZXN0IHBvc3RtYXJrDQpEYXRlOiBXZWQsIDE2IE9j dCAxOTk2IDEzOjM0OjIyIC0wNDAwDQpYLU1TTWFpbC1Qcmlvcml0eTogTm9ybWFsDQpYLVBy aW9yaXR5OiAzDQpYLU1haWxlcjogTWljcm9zb2Z0IEludGVybmV0IE1haWwgNC43MC4xMTU1 DQpNSU1FLVZlcnNpb246IDEuMA0KQ29udGVudC1UeXBlOiB0ZXh0L3BsYWluOyBjaGFyc2V0 PUlTTy04ODU5LTENCkNvbnRlbnQtVHJhbnNmZXItRW5jb2Rpbmc6IDdiaXQNCg0KdXNwb3N0 OmxpdHRsaXR0QG1pdC5lZHUKCnRlc3QgbWVzc2FnZQpoaQoKVGhpcyBpcyBvbmUgb2YgdGhl IGZpcnN0IFVTUFMgRUNTIGVsZWN0cm9uaWMgcG9zdG1hcmtzLiAgS2VlcCBpdCBmb3IgZnV0 dXJlCnBoaWxhdGVsaWMgdmFsdWUhCgo= - --PART.BOUNDARY.0.0.0.0.21828.1996.Oct.16.17.33.19@4.1.aegisstar.com-- ------- End of Forwarded Message base64 decoded:
From demo3@hypersurf.com Wed Oct 16 17:33:03 1996 X-AETYPE: EPM X-ID: 3317 X-USPS-NOTICE: This document has been electronically postmarked by the United States Postal Service X-TIMESTAMP: 1996/10/16 17:33:10 GMT X-POSTAGE: 22, 593, 1 X-SN: 986 X-DN: c=US@o=USPS-Aegis Star Pilot@cn=USPS, AEGIS X-USPS-NOTICE: Electronic Postmarking Pilot System X-USPS-POSTMARK: ECTPID 00000119961016173310,3317 X-R: 98A68F9F611484BED97293FABEAFABAD2632DFC0 X-S: AA9A207F697019B28CD247D4A90FE695E06B848F X-DEST: littlitt@mit.edu From demo3@hypersurf.com Wed Oct 16 17:33:03 1996 Message-Id: <199610161739.KAA22344@mercury.hypersurf.com> From: "USPS Demo3" <demo3@hypersurf.com> To: (postmarking system) Subject: test postmark Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1996 13:34:22 -0400 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Priority: 3 X-Mailer: Microsoft Internet Mail 4.70.1155 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
uspost:littlitt@mit.edu test message hi This is one of the first USPS ECS electronic postmarks. Keep it for future philatelic value!