(Part 2/2) ICANN and UPU Celebrate the Signing of the .post Agreement (11 Dec 09)
On 11 December 2009, ICANN and the Swiss-based Universal Postal Union (UPU) have signed a historic agreement giving the UPU managing authority over .post as a top-level domain. At the highest conceptual level, the agreement represents linking the top-level of the Internets Domain Name System with the real-world physical networks of the postal system, with 600,000 global physical offices and proximity to most humans. To enable its customers to take advantage of the services the UPU envisions for .post, the UPU is already installing the first computers in many villages in their local post offices to provide those services, which can include: Hybrid email; that is, email that turns into physical mail at the post office nearest the recipient. Imagine you want to send a message to an 85-year-old aunt in Switzerland who does not use email. Hybrid mail would transform your email into a letter at your aunts national or nearby post office. As an analogy, think of turning emails into telegrams.
Cybersecurity services that link authenticated addresses and personal knowledge to strengthen identities on the Internet.
New types of financial services. It is at the UPUs discretion to set technical standards for national postal systems to join the network. See more: http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-2-11dec09-en.htm