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Who should use
this digital time stamping service? |
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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. |
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How much does e-TimeStamp
cost? |
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| 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. |
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How does e-TimeStamp
differ from a notary? |
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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.
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Are the contents
of my file kept confidential during TimeStamping? |
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| 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 |
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How does this tool
assist in copyright protection? |
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e-TimeStamp helps the author
prove when his/her idea was expressed - this is
the moment under U.S. law when copyright protection
begins. e-TimeStamp is especially effective for
protecting work before the author knows whether
it will be published.
In the U.S., your work is automatically protected
by copyright law from the moment of its creation.
This protection remains throughout the author's
life, plus 50 years. It is important to note that
this protection is given without obtaining a registered
copyright. Official registration may be made at
any time within the life of the copyright.
What's important is the ability to prove that you
originated the work. e-TimeStamp is a tool that
helps provide that proof for the author.
To demonstrate a possible scenario: A graphic artist
creates 50 "candidate logos" in a week.
All the logos are saved in a single computer file
and that file is e-TimeStamped. Next, the artist
shows those 50 logos to a potential client at a
meeting. The client does not purchase any of the
work. Six months later, one of those logos appears
on the client's WEB site without the author's permission.
At this time, the author submits the government
registration copies and $20 to register the copyright
for the infringed logo. The author can use the e-TimeStamp
to prove that he had created this logo months before.
The infringement case is easier to prove.
A simple e-TimeStamp for all your work helps prepare
you for a possible infringement situation.
Copyright law can be complex and you need to consult
with your legal counsel. The U.S.
Copyright Office web site has extensive information.
Another factor to consider is that if an official
copyright registration (submit form, copies and
$20) is made within 3 months after publication,
statutory damages and attorney's fees will be available
to the copyright owner in court actions. Otherwise,
only an award of actual damages and profits is available
to the copyright owner. Your attorney should be
consulted
about the specifics of your situation. |
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What types of files
can be TimeStamped? |
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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:
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Word Processing documents
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Music Clips
& Wave Files |
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Artwork, Images, Photographs,
and Video |
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Web Pages, Software
source and executables |
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Financial records |
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How do I create
a digital time stamp? |
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There are 3 easy steps to
use e-TimeStamp and the free software that we provide:
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You will need to install
the DigiStamp desktop software on your computer.
This software will create and manage your
e-TimeStamps |
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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 |
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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. |
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What are the limits
to the size of the files that can be TimeStamped? |
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You can TimeStamp a single
page document, one of a 1000 pages or even more
in a single document. The upper limit on a file's
size is a million times larger than the capacity
of your computer. In technical terms, the file size
limit is up to 264 bits as described in the Federal
Information Processing Standard Publication 180-1
"Secure
Hash Standard"). For practical purposes,
when using the SHA for documents up to the size
of a few hundred megabytes then it is extremely
unlikely that a hash collision will be found. We
also support expanded hash functions, for example
up to SHA-512 in our developer toolkits and we use
SHA-256 in our Desktop software. |
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How often do I
e-TimeStamp a file that I'm working on? |
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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). |
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Does an e-TimeStamp
meet the legal standard for using electronic records
as legal evidence? |
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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. |
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Has a time stamp
been used to settle a legal dispute? |
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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 |
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How do I
verify the authenticity of my TimeStamp certificate? |
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There are 2 things you will
need to verify that your TimeStamp is valid at a
future date:
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The original, unchanged
computer file which you selected when creating
this certificate. |
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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: |
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The certificates can be retrieved manually from
the DigiStamp web site here.
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What if DigiStamp
ceases to offer their time stamp service? |
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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:
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Your original, unchanged
file |
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The time stamp you create
using DigiStamp's service |
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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. |
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