Text Messages To Replace Stamps In Sweden

99luftballon writes "Sweden and Denmark are running tests on replacing stamps with text messages. The writer sends a text message to a central server, which bills for the stamp and returns a code to be written on the letter. It's an interesting system but it better have very good security. Could this be the end of stamp collections and philately?"

The end of anonymous snail mail

[Anonymous Coward]

is what it is. There are a few US organizations that are doing good work for the country but that I'd rather not be entangled with in terms of tracking databases (I'm not particularly thinking of wikileaks, but that general idea). So I'm not going to respond to their requests to donate to them by paypal or send them a check. Instead I occasionally put a carefully wrapped ten dollar bill in an envelope, stick on a postage stamp, and send it to them with no return address. That's what Sweden (which is still trying to extradite Assange on very dubious charges) is trying to eliminate. It creeps me out.

Fraud

[StripedCow]

Just wait until a postman copies the code to a package of his own, and just destroys the original package.

Re:Fraud

[91degrees]

That's quite a high risk for few krona worth of postage.

Re:Good luck with that

[Anonymous Coward]

It's already proven technology here. The facts speak for themselves. You can buy subway, train, and bus tickets via SMS here, and it works pretty well. I don't see how applying the same concept to mail could go wrong. No one is going to be writing the numbers down, instead people will just show their cell phone screen to the post office agent, who will then type in the code in their system and validate it. Think of it as a unique barcode, like the ones you get on e-tickets when you fly, or when you buy tickets for a concert.

It has to be complex enough to crack? I'm not following you on this, though. The only possible thing that migh thappen is having someone looking at your cell phone screen and using your code, but I suppose that's unlikely.

I welcome this change. It's going to make things much more practical.

Re:Good luck with that

[Anonymous Coward]

Pre-printing envelopes with individual QR codes that you scan with your phone and then send to the central server to activate that QR code as postage would seem to be an easier solution for the consumer.

Re:Nice to get this from slashdot

[rajanala83]

A system like this, operated by the Deutsche Post in Germany, is working since over a year. Works like a charm. Fast & Reliable. Almost, but not entirely, unlike Slasdot editors.