.XAR File Stamping / Metadata / Tags

[handrawn]

Or copy the same to a stick and post it with the password wrapped in a current newspaper dated sheet to yourself registered post. On receipt, sign for it but never open the package until you have to prove ownership.

ah, happy days when things were simpler <sigh>

[Acorn]

ah, happy days when things were simpler <sigh>

Well, as you remember as you were there, you had to write it all in Latin and using the exact same letter count form a gigantic anagram that was still good Latin and hoof it down to your nearest monastery and get the scribes to copy up enough parchment so you to have them hand couriered to your correspondents and learned institutes...

Acorn

[handrawn]

'simpler' does not always equate to 'easier'

as I recall you had to keep the bear fed, otherwise it would wander off in search of food and your parietal art would be accessible to all

it was easier in the winter when it stayed put; disturbing a hibernating bear is not pretty

edit - it has just been pointed out to me that parietal can mean something else in USA college culture, must look up that derivation....

[Daniel]

I've had too many third party services close down, rename themselves, or re-engineer how they work to trust any long-term anymore.

I'd suggest going along with Acorn's suggestion of using PGP, but rather than encrypting anything, just use it as a free, quick, easy, and long-term reliable method of signing files.

You then just need to prove that you created the PGP signature when you say you did (ie, and that you've not just set your PC's clock back in time) - so publish the PGP signing output (which is just a few lines of text) onto a page on your website, make a copy with Archive.is and paste the signature on Pastebin . Make sure your site is indexed by the Internet Archive and by keeping a note of the Pastebin/Archive.is URLs, you'll have timestamped, uneditable copies of the PGP signature - therefore publcily verifyable proof you signed the file that you claim you did, and when.

You needn't put the files online publicly, just the signature for each file.

[handrawn]

whatever you do, make sure you have proof offline

[Acorn]

I've had too many third party services close down, rename themselves, or re-engineer how they work to trust any long-term anymore.

I'd suggest going along with Acorn's suggestion of using PGP, but rather than encrypting anything, just use it as a free, quick, easy, and long-term reliable method of signing files.

You then just need to prove that you created the PGP signature when you say you did (ie, and that you've not just set your PC's clock back in time) - so publish the PGP signing output (which is just a few lines of text) onto a page on your website, make a copy with Archive.is and paste the signature on Pastebin . Make sure your site is indexed by the Internet Archive and by keeping a note of the Pastebin/Archive.is URLs, you'll have timestamped, uneditable copies of the PGP signature - therefore publcily verifyable proof you signed the file that you claim you did, and when.

You needn't put the files online publicly, just the signature for each file.

Thank you Daniel that is an elegant approach.

Acorn