Digital Reach

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network and the new technologies being developed by UPU for

Posts in a spirit of cooperation and development.”

Trust and security

While turning its vast infrastructure to good account, the postal

sector is also well placed to help meet some of the other chal-

lenges of the Information Society. It offers expertise in the field

of Internet governance and in building confidence and security

in information and communication technology (ICT). These

areas were identified as priorities in the Geneva Action Plan and

in the report by the working group on Internet governance that

was created to tackle challenges arising from Internet use such

as spam e-mail, Internet security and cyber crime. UPU believes

that the postal sector can make a contribution to help solve the

problems arising from Internet identity management. Its conven-

tion lays down statutory and legal obligations binding all of its

190 member countries. Within this legal framework, the postal

sector is well placed to meet the demands of a reliable Internet

identity management system by providing a legal digital address

to complement the physical address, thus reducing the risk of

identity fraud. UPU has received initial approval for a .post

domain from ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names

and Numbers) that holds great opportunities to migrate phys-

ical addresses to digital addresses, thereby laying the

cornerstone for a next generation universal postal service.

Bound by national laws, Posts are recognized as trusted third

parties in the processing and distribution of information and the

delivery of goods. As they develop their range of electronic and

hybrid mail services, Posts are extending their role of trusted

third parties to the digital world. The coming of the Internet has

brought in its wake a large number of confidential and legal

documents circulating in cyberspace. Secure delivery, ensuring

that these documents can only be retrieved by the addressee, is

essential to senders and addressees alike. Public postal opera-

tors already provide certification services for physical mail that

can very easily be applied to digital mail, as a number of them

have already proved through the introduction of electronic post-

marks (EPMs).

Furthermore, as a standards organization with over 100 inter-

national standards to its credit – many of them relating to

electronic messaging – UPU provides consistent online postal

communications worldwide to ensure better quality of service to

the public. Security forms an integral part of these standards. For

example, the electronic postmark standard ensures that an elec-

tronic message carrying the EPM confirms the identity of the

sender. It also ensures the inviolability of the message; in other

words, it shows that no one has tampered with it. Combining the

.post address system with the use of electronic postmarks could

enable Posts to offer one of the best security mechanisms.

Towards an all-inclusive Information Society

The development of new technologies should be seen as a great

opportunity to adapt postal services and position the postal

sector as an essential infrastructure for the development of the

Information Society. New developments in ICT are enabling

Posts to expand their service offerings, interconnect the world-

wide postal network and open up new opportunities. One

example is e-commerce. Goods ordered via the Internet have to

be delivered after all. Express mail is another growth segment,

with new digital technologies making it easier to monitor parcel

transmission worldwide. Many postal operators are providing

hybrid mail, saving time and money by combining electronic

communications – for both personal letters and business mail

– with physical delivery.

To conclude in the words of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

“By harnessing the power of the different elements of the global

postal network – physical, electronic and financial – and finding

synergies between them, such projects can help everyone benefit

from and become a citizen of the inclusive and empowering

Information Society that we all are striving to build.”

Thanks to UPU’s International Financial System (IFS), the Russian Post has experienced an increase in international money transfers from

400 to 70 000 transactions per month in just over one year, and transmission times are reduced from 20 days to only three