WSJ Published an Article “This Email Will Self Destruct” that Discusses RPost & the Registered Email™ service

The Wall Street Journal published an article on the front page of the Personal Journal (page D1) entitled “This Email Will Self Destruct” that discusses RPost and the Registered Email™ service. Some excerpts follow, along with the full article.

WSJ page D1, August 31, 2006

Email is increasingly called on as evidence in court, says Dana Henry, a consultant for RPost International Ltd., a Los Angeles-based provider of “Registered Email™” services. It is relatively easy to change the contents of a message or say it was never delivered, says Ms. Henry, a former Los Angeles County Superior Court judge. “There is such incredible deniability on the part of the other party who is the recipient.”

The RPost service, which also works with Outlook, is designed to ensure the authenticity of messages so that they can be used in legal disputes, if necessary. The program adds a unique digital seal to each Registered Email™. A few minutes after sending the message, the sender receives an email receipt that includes when the message was delivered and opened. RPost will also verify whether the original message’s content was changed. The sender can choose whether or not the email tells the recipient that the message is registered.

The RPost service, which charges senders 59 cents for each Registered Email™, added a new feature in July that checks for “risky” content, such as Social Security numbers or key words that senders — or the senders’ employer — have flagged, before delivering the message. Customers, especially lawyers and technology professionals, are interested in using the service to protect senders from email-related liability, says RPost CEO Zafar Khan. “That can often cost the company quite a bit more, especially in this country, in litigation and litigation-discovery costs,” he says.