Us Post Office Plots Its Foray Into Cyberspace

Although still in various stages of testing and development, Post Office projects include a digital postal meter that can be filled online, a service to verify the autheticity of e-mail and an archive for digital data.

The postal service has a long history of nurturing new communications technologies, Paul Raines, program manager for electronic commerce services, noted.

The Postal Service has always been there as a sort of enabler of technology, Raines said, noting the services' early support of railroads, teleg-raphs and airplanes.

The postal service contracted for air delivery of mail in the early days of powered flight while the rest of the government hesitated. Eventually, the service built a network of beacons, towers and airfields to speed service.

Much of the Post Office's thrust on the Internet is to create an infrastructure of standards and universally accepted practices.