USPS EPM Comparison and controversy

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United States Postal Service - Electronic Postmark^TM

DigiStamp's collection of links and information on this competitor

Contents

		Thanks, USPS—sort of
		Why we're better
		Service comparisons for desktop user software
		Best of all, we're DigiStamp—not the government
		But doesn't the Post Office offer customers some advantages?
		Are we worried?
		More...

Update December 2007 the new Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act is passed. The law mandates that the new Postal Regulatory Agency has 2 years to decide about the continuation of the USPS EPM. The new law is here.

Thanks, USPS—sort of

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, we owe the U.S. Postal Service a big "Thanks." After all, the U.S. Postal Service now offers the same service (calling it an "electronic postmark") that DigiStamp has provided for more than 5 years as a digital "e-TimeStamp."

We're happy that the USPS has recognized a good idea—albeit long after we delivered the service. It's always nice when someone else validates your foresight.

And why wouldn't they? It is a good idea: a digital time stamp gives you proof that the contents of your work existed at a point-in-time and that the contents have not changed since that time — score one for technology.

But we're not entirely happy, of course. Who wants the heavy weight of the federal government entering the fray against you? We feel a little bit like a 2000 pound gorilla has shown up claiming our house for himself!

But like most gorillas, this one's rather clumsy. We're confident that consumers can see that we do a much better job than the USPS.

Why we're better

At its core, the new USPS electronic postmark uses the same basic approach that we provide. But the facts show that DigiStamp—with five years of experience behind us, where we've learned from customers and perfected our e-Time Stamp—provides a superior product.

We provide security enhancements.
We provide equally strong legal evidence.
We support more platforms.
We're much cheaper.

Service comparisons for desktop user software

	DigiStamp	USPS EPM
Creates standards compliant (IETF) time stamps	Yes	Yes
Cost for first time stamp	40 cents	80 cents with a 1 year expiration on unused purchase
Cost for a volume of time stamps Example:	10 million time stamps = $17,000	10 million time stamps = $1,000,000
NIST certified hardware and external audit	Yes	Unknown
Signature encryption strength	2048 bit key	1024 bit key
Microsoft office software supported	All versions^a	Word for Office XP and 2003
Other computer operating systems supported	Windows, Linux, Apple Mac, Solaris, others	Windows
Retains a copy of your time stamp	No ^b	For 7 years

^a - Our software is external to the word processor with time stamping and signing as separate tasks.
^b - DigiStamp takes efforts to ensure that we do not keep a copy of your time stamp. Users of both services must preserve their orginal document to prove the validity of their time stamp.

The USPS EPM web site does not describe some of the items above with adequate detail. We have contacted the USPS for their assistance with validating this comparison and have not yet received a response. The message we sent to leo.campbell@email.usps.gov as provided on the USPS EPM support web page is here.

Best of all, we're DigiStamp—not the government

Ronald Reagan got a lot of mileage out of the quip, "If you like the Postal Service, you'll love socialized medicine.”

Like everyone else, we use UPS or FedEx when we want to be sure something gets where it's going, on time, in good shape.

We don't care to rag on the USPS. We recognize that our founding fathers were wise in providing a national mail service to bind the country together. Frankly, we think being able to send a first class letter anywhere in the country for (what's the price now?) is a good value.

And we're delighted that our government has the wisdom to promote business competition and the free exchange of ideas with special lower rates for magazines, catalogs, books, and newspapers.

But let's face facts: Some things the government just shouldn't even try to do.

Unless there's a compelling public need, the government shouldn't be using its power to compete with its citizens. Sure, sometimes private enterprise doesn't hold all the answers: For instance, when the government stepped in to create public roadways well over a century ago, effectively putting private toll roads out of existence—the public gained immensely.

But roads just lie there. Technology changes—quickly. Customer needs change—quickly.

And the government's time stamp certainly isn't free!

You need a dynamic company to hear and respond to your needs. You need a profit-driven, bottom-line company that respects the economic disciplines of the market.

If DigiStamp doesn't do good work at a good price, we lose your business. Unless we provide first-rate service, we can't stay in business at all. We have rather stronger incentives than the USPS to be efficient and responsive!

Fortunately for us, as our customers know, we do very good work.

But doesn't the Post Office offer customers some advantages?

The Post Office's marketing effort tried to make a big deal out of the "legal significance" of their postmark because of their special status as a Federal Agency. Then, when brought to a legal case in 2004 and asked if their EPM customer has the same special protections as the U.S. Mail they corrected themselves: the Postal protection law (USC Section 1341) does not apply to their EPM. Are there any special laws for their EPM? Well, no, except that the customer of the Postal Service cannot sue if the USPS screws-up: in this situation they are back to being a Federal Agency and, for example, your state's consumer protection laws do not apply to the Postal Service.

We're still the United States—we don't allow a quasi-government agency to say what's real and what isn't. Just as every citizen has equal standing before the law, DigiStamp's time stamp carries just as much weight for legal purposes

End of conversation.

Are we worried?

Well, we're not insane. We know that the USPS could use its pervasive presence and the taxpayers' money to dwarf us. David probably gulped a few times when he went out to face Goliath.

Well, we're David, and we were here long before Goliath showed up.

On any reasonable measure, we're better than the USPS. We're confident that our customers are very good at taking reasonable measures.

Links to additional information

Is the USPS a government organization?
Does the government have any business offering a digital time stamp?
Is the USPS playing fair?
We're not the only ones who question the USPS's direction