Schreibcenter.de VS Onlinebrief.de

The german “Deutsche Post” is currently testing a new application called “Online-Brief“.
What is it? Over the portal, the Deutsche Post provides a possibility to send legally binding letters by mail. This means, you write your letter online, the provider will print it and deliver it for you. Nice idea!
There is already another service called Schreibcenter.de which provides, as far as I can see, almost the same services, however the delivered letter is NOT legally binding. So, according to the blog basicthinking.de, the main difference lies in the way you have to authenticate.

On Schreibcenter.de you can create a postcard/letter without creating any user account. Just go to the website, create you letter or postcard and submit it. Concerning the payment, the following methods are possible:

Practically this means, that with stolen credit cards or a hijacked PayPal account you can send an anonymous letter or postcard – nothing you couldn’t do in reality without the help of the Internet.

On Onlinebrief.de the problem of authentication will be changed. The customers have to confirm their identity by going to the next service center and show their passport, for instance. For authentication at the portal, it is also possible to use a TAN which will be received over your mobile phone. Further information can be found in the FAQ.

Conclusion:
Nice idea – but what about my privacy? What about the “privacy of letters”? Of course, in reality I also cannot be sure that my letter is not read by any employee but in times of data preservation and worldwide digital surveillance, this concern is put to another level. Therefore, in some cases these features could be useful, but in most of the cases we should stick to the old, normal “hardware” letter.

BTW: If anyone has a invitation code for the Onlinebrief, please let me know