| |
|
| |
|
 |
Who should use this digital time stamping service (which is like an Electronic Notary)? |
| |
Anyone
with intellectual property such as ideas,
research, formulas, algorithms, books, teaching
materials, etc.
See the related subject: What
types of files can be TimeStamped?
Below is a list of professions that can benefit
from e-TimeStamp. Some of the professions
have an attached description that can been
seen by clicking on the title
We continue to get mail from our users
and are surprised by the diversity of uses
for this product. This WEB page will be
updated as we incorporate their experiences. |
Back
to top
|
|
| |
|
|
How much does e-TimeStamp
cost? |
| |
| Charges
occur when you create a time stamp for a particular
computer file or when you time stamp a digital
signature. When creating a digital signature
with our software, the signature
is also time stamped. The charge for a
single time stamp is 40 cents (USD $ 0.40).
There is a $10 minimum for additions to your
account using your credit card. Details are
here. |
Back
to top
|
|
| |
|
|
How does e-TimeStamp
differ from a notary? |
| |
Many
people have historically used a notary to
protect Intellectual Property. A notary is
defined in many countries as a witness to
a person's presence and that they voluntarily
applied their signature to a page. The notary
is not commonly a witness to the contents
of your document, for example, they don't
read each page of the document. Now, using
a digital approach, the local notary method
can be updated with an e-TimeStamp where the
content of a computer file can be authenticated.
e-TimeStamp provides unequivocal proof that
the contents of any computer file existed
at a point-in-time and have not changed since
that time. The digital stamp is virtually
impossible to forge. A single e-TimeStamp
can handle 1-1000 or more pages right from
your computer - verifying the exact contents.
The paper forms and cost associated with a
notary is just old-fashioned for proving data
authentication.
Digital time stamp services are not regulated by governement authorities
are not always a substiture for a traditional notary. Please review the
section below about meeting legal standard for using electronic record
as legal evidence.
|
Back
to top
|
|
| |
|
|
Are the contents
of my file kept confidential during TimeStamping? |
| |
| Yes,
using e-TimeStamp retains complete confidentiality:
Only the file's fingerprint is sent over the
Internet. From the fingerprint, it is not
possible to discover the contents of your
file. (additional information at How
does e-TimeStamp Work |
Back
to top
|
|
| |
|
|
What types of files
can be TimeStamped? |
| |
e-TimeStamp is truly versatile:
any file on your computer can be TimeStamped.
That is one of the benefits of our new Digital Age;
So many different kinds of things are captured in
their digital form. To list a few:
| |
 |
Word Processing documents
|
|
|
Music Clips
& Wave Files |
| |
|
Artwork, Images, Photographs,
and Video |
|
|
Web Pages, Software
source and executables |
| |
|
Financial records |
|
|
|
|
| |
Back
to top
|
| |
|
|
Can I time stamp a ZIP or RAR file that contains many files? |
| |
Yes. A consideration: at a later time, to prove the authenticity
of a single file contained within the ZIP to a third-party then you will
need to supply the entire ZIP.
|
| |
Back
to top
|
| |
|
|
How do I create
a digital time stamp? |
| |
There are 3 easy steps to
use e-TimeStamp and the free software that we provide:
| |
1. |
You will need to install
the DigiStamp desktop software on your computer.
This software will create and manage your
e-TimeStamps |
| |
2. |
Run the newly installed
software on your computer. The "create
certificate" button will list the files
on your computer. Choose the file that you
want to create an e-TimeStamp for |
| |
3. |
Once you've selected
your file, the software computes your file's
unique FingerPrint.
Then, it automatically communicates over the
Internet to retrieve an encrypted-electronic
certificate containing the current time and
your file's fingerprint. The software also
saves the e-TimeStamp certificate on your
computer. |
The newly installed software can be used later to
prove that the contents of your file have not changed
since you created your e-TimeStamp certificate.
The e-TimeStamp software is easy to use. Additional
information is available on this WEB site to give
you more details about how e-TimeStamp
works. |
| |
Back
to top
|
| |
|
|
What are the limits
to the size of the files that can be TimeStamped? |
| |
You can TimeStamp a single page document, one of a 1000 pages or even more
in a single document. In technical terms from the FIPS SHS standard: |
|
...a message of any length less than 264 bits (for SHA-1, SHA-224 and SHA-256) or less than 2128 bits (for SHA-384 and SHA-512) is input to a hash algorithm, the result is an output called a message digest.
|
|
For practical purposes you can time stamp files with a size of many gigabytes
(264 bits is more than 2 million terabytes). For the timestamping tools that
DigiStamp provides, our developer toolkit uses a hash functions up to SHA-512
and we use SHA-256 in our Desktop software. |
| |
Back
to top
|
| |
|
|
How often do I
e-TimeStamp a file that I'm working on? |
| |
You re-stamp a file if the
contents have changed. The same file may undergo
many revisions. Each time you feel the document
has been significantly enhanced, you make a copy
to a unique name. Then, e-TimeStamp the copy that
will be saved in its current status (no more changes
to the copy). |
| |
Back
to top
|
| |
|
|
Does an e-TimeStamp
meet the legal standard for using electronic records
as legal evidence? |
| |
Yes, the IETF standard for
time stamps and the DigiStamp process do comply
with the Uniform Rules of Evidence Code. In the
United States, the general admissibility of electronic
records is well established, provided authenticity
can be proven. In the Uniform Rules of Evidence
Code, evidence of a process or system that produces
an accurate result is the fundamental test for producing
trusted electronic evidence.
The digital time stamp was defined by open standards
as part of the technology called Digital Signatures,
or PKI. DigiStamp uses this accepted method and
then adds an external
audit and certified hardware to provide a trusted
web based service. The result is strong evidence
to prove that your computer files are authentic.
In the United States, "E-SIGN" is a federal
law that gives electronic signatures, contracts
and records the same validity as their handwritten
and hard copy counterparts. (The Electronic Signatures
in Global and National Commerce Act, 2000). The
ESIGN law provides guidelines to eliminate legal
barriers to using electronic signatures for signing
contracts and storing documents. The law promotes
uniformity in electronic contracting nationwide
by pre-empting inconsistent state laws. Many of
those laws are derived from the Uniform Electronic
Transactions Act ("UETA"). The DigiStamp
services are consistent with these guidelines. More
information on E-Sign is here.
The European Directive on a community framework
for Electronic Signatures defines an electronic
signature as: "data in electronic form which
is attached to or logically associated with other
electronic data and which serves as a method of
authentication". The electronic signature and
time stamp created by DigiStamp is a form of advanced
electronic signature as defined in the Directive.
Additional laws define the legal environment for
DigiStamp services:
18 U.S.C. 1343 Wire Fraud
18 U.S.C. 2701 Electronic Communications Privacy
Act (ECPA)
18 U.S.C. 2510 regarding electronic communications
18 U.S.C. 1028, Fraud and related activity in connection
with identification documents and information
There is a collection of links about the legal community's
acceptance of digital signatures here.
We suggest that you discuss with your attorney the
specifics of your situation and we publish a legal
counsel disclaimer here.
Consider that large corporations have used this
technique for years as part of their proof of intellectual
property rights. Now, due to the Internet technologies,
this service is more universally available. |
| |
Back
to top
|
| |
|
|
Has a time stamp
been used to settle a legal dispute? |
| |
DigiStamp has created more
than 1 million time stamps for customers and none
have been challenged in court. Our service creates
strong legal evidence by using an external
audit and certified hardware.
It is important to note that an estimated 95% of
legal evidence is challenged in early stage discovery,
not in court. While DigiStamp can add legal strength
to a court case, the third-party time stamp provides
evidence to help resolve or avoid disputes prior
to courtroom litigation. The legal community has
described the situation where the time stamp or
digital signature is presented as evidence between
opposing parties before presenting their cases.
The opposing counsels chose not to spend the effort
to attempt to refute the time stamps, so this one
point was just accepted. Therefore, this form of
evidence did not convert to case law because it
was not refuted in the courts.
See related subjects of legal
standards and the DigiStamp
external audit and certified hardware |
| |
Back
to top
|
| |
|
|
How do I
verify the authenticity of my TimeStamp certificate? |
| |
There are 2 things you will
need to verify that your TimeStamp is valid at a
future date:
| |
1. |
The original, unchanged
computer file which you selected when creating
this certificate. |
| |
2. |
The e-TimeStamp certificate
which is saved in on your computer. |
The e-TimeStamp certificate contains your file's
fingerprint and the time of creation. These are
electronically sealed with a digital signature
from the DigiStamp time stamp server and stored
on your computer.
Anyone with the e-TimeStamp software could verify
your TimeStamp. Or, any software that support
industry standard PKI time stamps can be used
to verify a time stamp. You can choose to send
your original file and the e-TimeStamp certificate
to someone as proof of the content at a point
in time. A step-by-step description of using the
DigiStamp software to verify a timestamp is here.
A copy the public key certificate is transferred
to your computer when you create your time stamp.
The software automatically copies the new certificate
to your computer when you create a time stamp.
| Screen shots of using
the software: |
|
|
 |
The certificates can be retrieved manually from
the DigiStamp web site here.
|
| |
Back
to top
|
| |
|
|
What if DigiStamp
ceases to offer their time stamp service? |
| |
You can verify
a time stamp without contacting DigiStamp - you
do not depend upon DigiStamp offering this service
or being in business. A time stamp from DigiStamp
does not expire.
Our time stamps are provided as an industry standard
'digital signature' record. Therefore, other software
can be used to verify a time stamp from DigiStamp.
You would need:
| |
1. |
Your original, unchanged
file |
| |
2. |
The time stamp you create
using DigiStamp's service |
| |
3. |
Our public key, an x.509
public key certificate (included as part of
the time stamp) |
A copy the public key certificate is transferred
to your computer when you create your time stamp.
The certificates can be retrieved manually from
the DigiStamp web site here.
For example, we have customers that use our service
inside Microsoft and Java applications. These customers
use the Digital Signature capabilities that are
built into Java or the Microsoft OS to verify the
time stamps. Additional technical details are available
here. |
| |
Back
to top
|
| |
|
