| Because of the ease with which a text message
can be modified (i.e. often with only two clicks of
the mouse), a standard e-mail that is sent or
received, archived electronically, or stored in
printed form, has limited “evidentiary value” in
a court of law. The usefulness of such documenting
is very misleading. With e-mail, the burden of
proof is currently on the sender. It has to be
proven that it was sent. Moreover, it has to be
proven that it was received. There is a
misconception by the public that if one looks in the
“Sent Folder” that the e-mail was actually delivered
to the recipient. There is also a “Time Stamp”
that appears on a standard e-mail in the receiver’s
message window. The accuracy of this time, however,
depends on the user’s computer time setting, and
also has little “evidentiary value” in a dispute.
So what do the courts deem “delivered” in
reference to e-mail?
While the US Postal Service deems First Class
mail delivered if sent, this is not true of
electronic mail. UETA stipulates that electronic
messages can be judged “delivered” only if they can
be shown to have arrived at the recipient’s mail
system. There are four e-mail confirmations
messages, which mirror First Class postal delivery.
They are: Opened (Recipient signed); Mailbox
(assistant or colleague signed and put it on your
desk); Mail Server (mail room acknowledged delivery
by signing) and Failure (no one signed for it). The
four aforementioned analogous levels of delivery
have been confirmed by case law under the Uniform
Electronic Transaction Act.
GRAY AREAS OF E-MAIL “DELIVERY”
Estimates of at least two-percent of business
Internet e-mails never reach their intended
destination. This may be due to reasons such as
lost data packets, a mistyped e-mail address, or an
aggressive use of Spam filters on a recipient’s
system. Just because a sender does not receive a
“bounce” reply notice, does NOT mean that the e-mail
was delivered. The reason for this is that many
e-mail services are set such that a no “delivery
status notifications” or “bounce” notice occurs so
as limit an e-mail spammers’ ability to capture a
valid e-mail address.
TRACKING SYSTEMS
There are today certain services that provide a
notice of “opening” of an e-mail message some of
the time. Simple Web-tracking (i.e. Web bugs)
services provide a low level of confirmation and are
limited. Typical software provides a text, or HTML,
web receipt that cannot be easily authenticated.
These services also do not list the contents
associated with the e-mail. Therefore, the
challenge becomes to capture the dialog from the
sender, associate it with the precise content and
times of transmission, and interpret the server
dialog so as to present a timely and
easy-to-understand text for the sender. RPost
accomplishes this.
Even though it is very difficult to intercept
standard e-mail in transit, some look at using
encrypted e-mail for additional privacy. However,
encrypted e-mail is generally cumbersome and
requires passing passwords or keys back and forth,
which could also be intercepted if such is the
concern. Further, with encrypted line connections,
the e-mail is in plain text inside the sender or
recipient’s organization leaving it vulnerable to
manipulation.
Standard digital signatures require the purchase,
installation, and management of a digital code
(certificate) that is associated with a password,
system, or smartcard. To be enforceable under US
law, however, an electronic signature must possess
THREE elements: A sound, symbol or process; attached
to or logically associated with an electronic
record, and; made with the intent to sign the
electronic record. Hence, an electronic
signature can be simple – a typed name, properly
associated with an e-mail and with explicit intent
is the simplest form of electronic signature.
The challenge then is to provide this method
“evidentiary value” such that it would conform to
existing law.
REGISTERED E-MAIL®
BY RPOST
The RPost service provides legally valid proof of
time and content sent and received, for any Internet
address, without storing information or requiring
compliant action by the receiver, and able to
reconstruct the original e-mail. An e-mail
message is generated and returned to the sender that
provides evidence of the entire e-mail transaction,
which is admissible in court. The RPost software
actually aggregates the transmission information
from the sender and receiver’s mail servers,
interprets it, and produces an easy to read report.
The information that is provided is returned to the
sender within one business day and contains: proof
of sending and receipt; proof of official time sent
and received; proof of content (including
attachments; re-constructs original content,
delivery, and times).
Be the judge. Use Registered E-mail®
by RPost. Feel The Power of Proof™.
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