@eLaw.com.hk 葉謝鄧律師行

Electronic Time Stamping

Hongkong Post is partnering with The Chinese University of Hong Kong on providing e-timestamping service for the Internet and e-commerce community. Electronic Time-Stamping (e-TS) is a secure online notary mechanism, which certifies that a set of data has existed and has not been altered since a specific point in time. It serves as a trusted third party witnessing the existence and particulars of electronic data.

Regardless of the format and the content, any electronic data can be timestamped. e-TS can be applied to online business transactions, e-mails, secure messaging, intellectual property protection and other time-sensitive services.

A FREE trial to create your own timestamping is available online now. You can visit in Hongkong Post website www.hongkongpost.gov.hk or click www.e-timestamping.com to have a free trial and get more details.

New Usage of e-Cert : Online securities trading at KGI

KGI, one of the largest equity and futures brokerages in Hong Kong, has adopted e-Cert in its online securities services. You can now enjoy a more secure online trading environment by using e-Cert to place orders, amend or cancel buy/sell order instructions, enquire order status, etc. With e-Cert, your online identity cannot be easily faked by others. In addition, confidential data such as password and financial information are well protected during online securities transactions.

It is easy to get started. Once you have successfully applied a KGI online securities trading account, you can register to use e-Cert to login at www.kgieworld.com. Just associate your HKID number to KGI online securities trading account to finish the registration.

By trading with e-Cert at KGI, you can enjoy the following privileged offers:

Free real time snapshot market data - EasyQuotes (Hong Kong) (100 quotes/month)

KGI's online futures clients can enjoy FREE real time quotes & Intelligent Market Strategies services.

Hongkong Post's new root certificateadmitted to Microsoft Root Certificate Program

Hongkong Post's new root certificate ("Hongkong Post Root CA 1") was admitted to the Microsoft Root Certificate Program

Starting from April 2004, Hongkong Post's new root certificate ("Hongkong Post Root CA 1") was admitted to the Microsoft Root Certificate Program, in addition to the old root certificate ("Hongkong Post Root CA") which had already been admitted in July 2003. The program aims at protecting Microsoft customers from security issues related to the use of public key infrastructure (PKI) certificates. This means that Internet Explorer and Outlook Express users of Windows XP and Windows 2003 will now trust certificates issued by Hongkong Post under the two root certificates.

Users on platforms before Windows XP can also pick up and install the two Hongkong Post root certificates to their operating systems when they perform the Windows Update at URL, http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com. Please note that Root Certificate Update is not a critical update and users need to explicitly click-open the optional Windows 98/ME/NT/2000 Update list to include the Root Certificate Update.

The admission of Hongkong Post to the Microsoft Root Certificate Program is a solid proof of the trustworthiness of the Hongkong Post CA System and e-Cert.

Usage of Digital Certificate

Hongkong Post e-Cert may be used to perform commercial operations and can enable safe and secure electronic transactions in the field of banking, finance, telecommunications, entertainment, education, health and Government services such as the ESD scheme etc.

Reference web-site: www.esdlife.com

What's a recognised certificate in the case of e-Cert?

1. a certificate recognized under s.22

2. a certificate of a type, class or description of certificate recognized under s.22

3. a certificate designated as a recognized certificate and issued by the Postmaster General.

Facts about Hong Kong Post e-Cert

According to Hong Kong Post, e-cert (personal) is issued to individuals using face-to-face authentication at the Hongkong Post's branch office counter. The liability limit allowable by Hong Kong Post is set to HK$1 million. The validity period is one year.

At Hong Kong Post's web-site, the certification revocation list (shortly known as CRL) is available for public's access. The Certificate Revocation List (CRL) is currently updated 3 times daily at 09:45, 14:15 and 23:00 Hong Kong Time (i.e. 01:45, 06:15 and 15:00 GMT). Under normal circumstances, Hongkong Post will publish the latest CRL at "http://www.hongkongpost.gov.hk/crl/eCert.crl" or in the LDAP repository "ldap://ldap.hongkongpost.gov.hk" as soon as possible and within 15 minutes after the update time.