News in brief
Digital Timestamp News Launched
NEPEAN ON -- Digital Timestamp
News was launched as a free information service built to keep industry
folks up-to-date on the developments of time stamping technology.
This exciting technology market is slowly gaining momentum in corporations
and on managed delivery networks. While the groundswell of support for
application layer time stamping has not materialized so far, the need for
digital time stamping will be key to resolving contract disputes in the
brave new wired world. Digital Timestamp News is positioning
itself to deliver valuable information for free. We hope to publish follow-on
issues as things evolve and perhaps become a time stamp portal..
Punching the clock digitally
OTTAWA ON -- Most folks are unfamiliar with digital timestamping,
but the technology has a parallel in the non-digital world. Some folks
are familiar with the time recording systems at their place of employment.
Employees are provided with a punch card that must be inserted into the
clock at the start and end of the day. Based on the times recorded, your
attendance and salary would be computed. Punch Clocks had its difficulties
(e.g. employees who would punch the cards of friends who were late, or
punched out people they despised several hours early).
In the Great White North here in Canada, notarization can be accomplished by a registered Notary. The notary public can fix his seal on a document, and is able to attest to the date and time that a transaction or document was notarized. In a dispute, the notary can attest to having signed the document on a specific.
From time to time, folks have written documents with an original idea. To provide proof of the ideas date of origin people would attempt to protect their intellectual property by sending themselves a sealed envelope containing the document via registered mail (thereby having the post office) date time stamp the envelope.
In the digital world, e-contracts would often benefit from being time stamped. E-Commerce is growing, but the illusive and litigious Business-to-Business (B2B) transaction will surely want timestamping technology to assist in establishing liabilities and performance criteria.
Timestamping in support of electronic commerce will require a few things to get off the ground. First, trading partners must be in a position to transact business electronically. Presumably this will be via the web, or perhaps XML Electronic Document Interchange. When a transaction requires a time stamp, a decision must be made on the purpose of timestamping the transaction. If the timestamp is to aford control for an internal process, then an internal timestamping service likely would be satisfactory, otherwise a third party timestamping service, independant of the business transaction might be required. Depending on the business arrangements, a trading partner agreement might be sufficient to permit use of an internal timestamp as the timestamp authority.
IETF Draft on Timestamping
The Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Time Stamp Protocol (TSP) submitted by the PKIX Working Group C. Adams(Entrust Technologies), P. Cain (BBN), D. Pinkas (Bull) and R. Zuccherato (Entrust Technologies) details the protocols and components of a Time Stamp Authority.
World Time Standards
National Reseach
Council Atomic Clock (Cool Site):
CHU 3.333Mhz, 7.335Mhz, 14.670 Mhz, Phone 1-613-745-1576 and Network
Time Protocol (not to be confused with timestamping!!) 
National
Institute of Standards Atomic Clock
WWV on 2.5, 5, 10, and 15 MHz, and WWVH on 2.5, 5, 10, 15 MHz and 20Mhz
Vendors/Folk offering Timestamp Products or Services
Entrust Technologies Incorporated
PGP Digital Timestamping Service
Projects with a Timestamp Element
Other Timestamp Related Sites
IBM Vault Registry White Paper: Retooling Business for the Web
The Essential Role of Trusted Third Parties in Electronic Commerce
Cybernetica
Vandenberg Systems
RSA FAQ
on Timestamping
FAQ from E-Timestamp.COM
The Government of Canada PKI Site
CSE's Government
of Canada PKI Information
Future Stuff
Portable Time Standards -- Accurate Clocks with Computer Interfaces
Canada a pioneer in time
Timestamp Authority (TSA) requirements
Random Number Generators
Portable Time Standards -- Accurate Clocks with Computer Interfaces
Distributed Timestamping Agents
Availability Concerns in Timestamping
Disclaimer: Information is subject to change. The author of this page cannot warrant the accurancy of the information provided by the linked sites. Caveat Emptor.
