Future US Postal History -- Indicium to Replace Stamps (fwd)

[jonathon <grafolog@netcom.com>]

	Anybody else think this makes mail snooping a whole
	lot simpler?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 3 Aug 1996 11:28:54 -0500
From: "Philatelic.Com Email Service" <post@philatelic.com>
Subject: Future US Postal History -- Indicium to Replace Stamps

To: post@philatelic.com
Subject: Future US Postal History -- Indicium to Replace Stamps
from: dreggen@accessnv.com

Reference:  Federal Computing Week
		Volume 10, No.l 29; July 29, 1996

		Federal Computing Week (FCW) is a publication of
		FCW Government Technology Group
		3110 Fairview Park Drive  --  Suite 1040
		Falls Church, VA   22042-4599
		USA

		Tel:     703 - 876 - 5100
		Fax:    703 - 876 - 5126

		Page 19


USPS
Proposed specifications would improve mail security
	by Colleen O'Hara

The following is quote of one topic paragraph from the article:

"Defining a Postmark

	One specification defines what a postmark, or evidence of postage,
must look like.  USPS has proposed that the new postmark contain
a unique digital signature carried in a 2-D bar code.  A new indicium
substitutes for a postage stamp or postage meter impreint as evidence that
postage was paid.

	Because of the information the indicium will contain, the agency
will be better able to deter amil fraud as well as provide additional services,
such as mail tracking and tracing, according to Roy Gordon, program
manager for the agency's Information Based Indicia Program.

	'USPS' inidtial strategy is to sample [letters] in the mail stream
and scan on a random basis,' Gordon said.  'In the long term, it will
scan 100 percent of the mail to deter fraud.  The key is that it provides
the USPS [with] the ability to provide additional services to carry that
data with mail pieces.' "


	This whole article is probably a must read for anyone who is
following or who is interested in what the postal history of the
future will be like.

		Dale Eggen
		dreggen@accessnv.com

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People who do not give specific references are cowards
who are trying to have an influence on peoples opinion
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						William Shakespear
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