A
server receives a message from a sender and transmits the message through
the Internet to a recipient. The
server normally transmits the message in a first path through
the Internet to the recipient. When the sender indicates at a particular position in the message that the message is registered, the
server transmits the message in a second path through
the Internet to the recipient. The sender can also provide additional indications in the message to have the server
handle the message in other special ways not normally provided by the server. After learning from the
receipt or the recipient's agent through the Internet that the message was successfully received, the server creates, and forwards to the sender, an electronic
receipt. The
receipt includes at least one, and preferably all: the message and any attachments, a delivery success / failure table listing the receipts, and the receipt times, of the message by the recipient's specific agents, and the failure of other agents of the recipient to receive the message and a
digital signature of the message and attachments subsequently. By verifying that the
digital signature on the sender's receipt matches the digital receipt at the server, the server can verify, without retaining the message, that the receipt is genuine and that the message is accurate.