What is e-TS?

Why do we need e-TS?

How does e-TS work?

What is the technology behind?

Time-Stamp Authority and Time-Stamp Service Provider?

Why do we need e-TS?

To increase confidence in e-commerce
To protect intellectual properties
To support the existing Public Key Infrastructure

Accurate time and contents of transactions are of paramount importance in e-commerce. However, current buyers and sellers are using the time sources in their own computers and servers, and the time is not so reliable and can be easily manipulated and repudiated. Also, the contents of orders, bills, e-mails or other electronic documents involved in on-line transactions are susceptible to alteration. These problems lower people's confidence in on-line business and hinder the acceptance of e-commerce.

Timestamping on-line bills and orders can prove that the transactions occur at particular moments and their contents have not been altered since then. With e-TS, fraud and repudiation on time will hardly be possible. Customers and suppliers will then have confidence in buying and selling on the Internet.

To protect intellectual properties

In the information era, proper and effective exchange of information and ideas is crucial to the advancement of society. The Internet is an excellent medium for people to share their creative works. Unfortunately, any works posted on the Internet are prone to plagiarism. Even worse, there are hardly effective ways to deter people from plagiarizing others' works, nor to prove ownership of creations in case of disputes.

e-TS can be used to certify the existence of any creative works, including text, graphic, audio and video, since a particular point in time. e-TS discourages infringement of intellectual properties. If a creation is plagiarized, the person with the earliest timestamp will have strong evidence in claiming the ownership of copyrights of that creation.

To support the existing Public Key Infrastructure

In the existing Public Key infrastructure (PKI), a digital signature provides who signed the digital document. However, the signature can still be repudiated if the document does not include an accurate and reliable signing time.

A timestamp of a digital signature provides an accurate time from a trustworthy third party showing when the digital document is signed. In that case, the document has the property of non-repudiation.