IPP> IPP 2 IFAX Integration Time and Date Stamp

[Dan Wing]

>I thought I would send this out separate from the other issues, since this
>appears to be the most critical fax issue.
>
>The first question, from the IPP meeting that came from this discussion...
>"Where is the time stamp afixed to the document?  (i.e. At the source or
>the destination?)"  If the document image is ever stored between the two
>points these times could be very different, even without the consideration
>of time zone changes.

In the Internet Fax WG, there isn't a consensus on this because we
haven't documented the behavior of fax offramps (that is, email to
GSTN-based legacy fax gateways).  This document is on my to-do list
but I haven't had the time (or energy) to write the document.

>It was generally agreed by IPP participants that an IPP/IFAX compatible
>printer could be required to implement a real-time clock.  The IPP/IFAX
>feature would be a superset of the present IPP version 1.0, as it most
>likely will require the inclusion of new attributes and other features
>beyond the current specifications.  This is not a serious problem, since
>IPP is very extensible and is not restricted by any legacy printing
>applications.
>
>The second question concerns the legal issues... "Would the legal
>requirements of a real-time clock for current fax machines automatically
>apply to an IPP/IFAX device?"  If this answer is yes, there would exist a
>very strong incentive for a vendor not to build an IPP/IFAX device that
>does not have a real-time clock.

I'm not aware of any law establishing the legality of fax documents --
I believe it is only case law, no?  If so, a legal challenge would
be needed to establish a similar precedent.

What we should do, though, is follow the fax model as closely as 
possible to "ride along" with already-established case law.  These
are just lawyers, after all!  :-)

I'll let fax manufacturers comment on when the time/datestamp is
created by fax offramps today, but my experience has been the 
timestamp is created on-the-fly by the offramp device.

>Please let me know if there remains any issues regarding a time stamp.

-Dan Wing