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USPS electronic postmark

To: [email protected]
Subject: USPS electronic postmark
From: Jonathan Litt <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 1996 00:49:28 EDT
Sender: [email protected]

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: [email protected]
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: <[email protected]>
Date: Wed Oct 16 17:33:19 GMT 1996
Reply-To: [email protected]
Errors-To: [email protected]
Subject: test postmark
To: [email protected]
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 [email protected]). If you are not the intended
recipient, you are hereby notified that any viewing, dissemination,
distribution, or copying of this message is prohibited.

Only [email protected] 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
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- --PART.BOUNDARY.0.0.0.0.21828.1996.Oct.16.17.33.19@4.1.aegisstar.com--


------- End of Forwarded Message

base64 decoded:

>From [email protected]  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: [email protected]
>From [email protected]  Wed Oct 16 17:33:03 1996
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
From: "USPS Demo3" <[email protected]>
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:[email protected]

test message
hi

This is one of the first USPS ECS electronic postmarks.  Keep it for future
philatelic value!
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