Authenticating email

Jonathan B. Bayer pmmail@rpglink.com
Wed, 03 May 2000 09:02:11 -0400


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On Wed, 03 May 2000 14:50:48 +0200, Alexander Sarras wrote:

>But that argument can be used for smail as well, even for some forms of
>registered mail. Since a court wouldn't dismiss _that_ kind of evidence
>in normal cirumstances, i cannot, by default, reject the other.


At least with registered smail, the mailman gets a human signature. 
Yes, it can be forged, yes, it may not be the same person.  But at
least there is some physical evidence which can be used for
authentication purposes.  If someone swears they didn't receive
something, and the PO supplies a signature, the police can compare
signatures to see if it belongs to the person or not.  Not perfect, but
still understandable to most people.


JBB
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