[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
USPO & Digital Postage/E-Cash Project
The US Post Office just killed a project that would have created a
digital postage/e-cash system. This would have been a digital
replacement for the Pitney-Bose style Postage Metering machines. To use
a PM machine one has to take the entire machine physically to a Postal
Station and purchase some fixed dollar amount of postage. The Postal
clerk unseals and unlocks the machine, dials in the amount of postage
purchased and then relocks and reseals the machine.
This mechanical system would have been replaced by a serial-port dongle
and a piece of software. The dongle would contain an EEPROM in a
replacable button (made by Dallas Semiconductor) into which would be
loaded data indicating the amount of postage that had been purchased and
not yet used. The software package would be able to print the address,
postage seal, routing codes, etc directly on the envelope via a laser
printer and decrement the amount of available postage left in the
dongle. In the original test, customers would have to take the dongle
to a Postal Station to purchase additional postage, but the ultimate
goal was to have been to have a commerical dial-up service available
that one could dial into and purchase additional postage directly.
A proof-of-concept prototype was developed in VB and a production
prototype was then developed in VC++. Unfortunately the crypto wasn't
very strong. The USPO contracted with Carnege-Mellon to try and break
the system and they were able to within a couple of weeks. USPO then
killed the project.
Dale H.