Summary

 

Problem:  Not all e-mail is inconsequential and expendable.  E-mail correspondence that commits either sender or recipient to action, agreement, binding contract, etc. or serves a required notification function is in effect an electronic document that should convey the same strengths displayed by a hard-copy document after-the-fact. However, the inherent shortcomings of simple e-mail thwart verifiable proof after-the-fact: simple text can be altered by anyone and sender / recipient alike are unable to prove that the e-mail message actually was sent and received or contained what is purported to have been said, at a given time.  [Being in a “sent” folder is meaningless as the document can be dragged there without having been sent; simple e-mail text can be altered; and a computer can be set to read any time desirable by operators.]

 

Solution:  RPost® Registered E-mail® service is the only simple, cost-effective way to provide e-mailers the same verifiable protections associated with hard-copy documents. The RPost Registered E-mail core service provides the sender with verifiable proof of: sending and receiving; content (including attachments); and the atomic clock time stamps. The Registered Receipt™ e-mail (that is returned to the sender) is the strength of the service in that it provides a digital recording / snapshot of the server-to-server conversation that witnessed the e-mail transaction and the same receipt is then used to regenerate the original e-mail and attachments should anyone challenge the original transaction after-the-fact.  Therefore, the inherent records management aspect of the RPost Registered Receipt allows a company to archive important e-mail transactions without having an elaborate document retention system in place. 

 

Simplicity:  Employees can be instructed easily on the use of Registered E-mail® service – “if the e-mail commits the company to anything at all, send it Registered.”  Understand that having a “store everything” e-mail policy is not practical, as important electronic documents are not segregated from casual e-mail and employees are less conscious of protecting the company.  Also, traditional archive systems record only what was sent and fall short of protecting the sender whose e-mail receipt and / or content and relevant times may be challenged by the recipient.  An archive system that can retrieve a simple text copy of an e-mail that was sent, falls prey to the recipient’s likely accusation of non-receipt or challenge of what the e-mail actually said and when in fact it was received.