The orthodoxy is that the two most common forms of time stamps are: (1) Unambiguous: a time in the past that is represented by the number of seconds since the

The orthodoxy is that the two most common forms of time stamps are: (1) Unambiguous: a time in the past that is represented by the number of seconds since the epoch, Jan 1 1970. When coupled with a location/jurisdiction, they can be converted into a wall-clock time like “1:23pm 04 May 2006 Europe/Paris.” (2) Ambiguous (but semantically meaningful): a time in the future that would be shown on a clock at the location of the event. The logging of IP addresses would use the former. The upcoming trial date for illegal torrenting would use the latter.