This Text Message Will Self Destruct 233
mwilliamson writes "Silicon.com is reporting that Staellium UK (cell provider) has created a protocol in which text messages disappear after 40 seconds. This, of course, relies on the implementation of the protocol in the device used to display the message. They're touting a future roll out for photos as well, and service in the US."
Does anyone see a different story? (Score:5, Interesting)
For me, the first thing that comes to mind from "self destructing SMS" is the advertising potential. Combined with a locator, you could now receive "Eat at Wendy's!" messages that expire so you don't have to delete them.
I don't really see it happening, but advertising in the old markets (TV, radio, newsprint) is not returning as big of a response as it used to. They'll always try to find more direct ways to advertise, and I wouldn't be surprised if this move is a predecessor to more direct advertising schemes.
Hopefully I'll be able to opt-in rather than opt-out of any such programs.
FWIW, I just can't imagine that people are SMS'ing proprietary information. If its private and confidential, keep it on paper (preferably typed with a typewriter). Digital information will always be too insecure.
Re:Does anyone see a different story? (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh, no. You'd be surprised.
At a certain national lab I used to work at, people used to SMS system login information - of course, the presence of additional security (e.g. a Cryptocard which is basically like an RSA random number generator tag) minimized the risks of someone breaking into the system, but you'd be surprised.
Re:Does anyone see a different story? (Score:4, Insightful)
The only thing I use SMS for is contacting my employees that overslept, communicating with friends, using Google for SMS and looking up prices (froogle etc). Sending proprietary information using a text messaging service is crazy.
Sarbains-Oxley means that EVERY (Score:2)
Your SMS messages are no exception.
Since there is no way to determine what might constitute 'insider codes' for stuff happening, you can look forward to your SMS messages hnaging around FOR-bloody-EVER!
Work for an outfit with more than fifty staff in the US? (Notice it doesn't say where your head office might be because it doesn't matter.)
Your documents, emails, SMS messages and every scrap of paper has to be kept for a
Re:Sarbains-Oxley means that EVERY (Score:2)
There are some industries that require keeping of information. As well as legal reasons to do so if there is a suit in progress, or you have "reasonable belief" a suit is pending. Destroying information then can be viewed as obstruction of justice and get you in jail.
But if you have a "policy" of removing stuff and do it before you know anything is pending, the lawyers can't do anything retroactively if the data is gone. So delete the logs (or don't generate
Re:Sarbains-Oxley means that EVERY (Score:2)
Re:Does anyone see a different story? (Score:2)
"GET UR ASS OVER HERE ASAP!"
You overslept once more:
"U R F1R3D!"
Re:Does anyone see a different story? (Score:5, Interesting)
Indeed. I know if I walk around my office, I'm forced to conclude that probably 10-20% of all of our corporate communications are happening over MSN and Yahoo IM networks.
It seems everyone uses these wonderfully convenient things without ever stopping to realize that all of their data is travelling over someone else's network and that they have no control over it. I wouldn't be at all surprised that you could probably violate insider laws at dozens of companies just by being able to intercept MSN's traffic.
I complain about it frequently (I won't use MSN) but nobody seems to care that all of our internal decision making is way more public than we'd like to think. And this seems to travel from board-level down to the rest of us plebes -- it's almost become the defacto method of commincations.
Scary stuff, but people will use third party technologies for the damndest things without giving it a second thought.
Cheers
Re:Does anyone see a different story? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Does anyone see a different story? (Score:3, Insightful)
While it should be kept under lock and key, have you any idea how much sensitive information is stored digitally? I think you would find that going back to a paper-based society (we're talking pre-1970s terminals here, people) would be very cumbersome. Just keep a sense of proportion, I mean we have
Re:Does anyone see a different story? (Score:3, Interesting)
For people who have unique security needs, though, I am surprised that they'd need to have SMS messages deleted. If someone sends you proprietary information through SMS, how hard is it to just delete it yourself? Why is 40 seconds picked over 30 seconds or 80 seconds? The idea that a com
Re:Does anyone see a different story? (Score:5, Funny)
Not sure what to get for the WorldCom/Enron executive on your Christmas list who has everything? Well look no further! Now available just in time for the holdidays, the self destructing SMS client!!! Works with all the speed and convience of a regular SMS client, but without the pesky audit trail those nosey SEC investigators are always looking for! The perfect gift for that special someone who just dosen't have the time to fully cover up their embezellment/fraud! Saving someone a prison sentence shows you really care.
Re:Does anyone see a different story? (Score:2)
The even sadder thing is that the second thing I thought of was that this would be a new way for the RIAA to shove DRMed music down our throats. Pay per listen....
Re:Does anyone see a different story? (Score:2)
Re:Does anyone see a different story? (Score:2)
Re:Does anyone see a different story? (Score:2)
Re:Does anyone see a different story? (Score:2)
Wireless Execs Hold Hands, Sing Songs of Praise and Feast On Fresh Babies Over New Text & Picture Messaging Protocol!
So in other words expect something like this to start showing up in your mobile plan details. New and exciting value butt-fuck messaging pack: 300 text messages / mo. $9.99 + $0.25 per message you want to retain beyond 40 sec. timeout. Unlimited messaging + retention for $21.99 a month. Void where prohibited, 1
Re:Does anyone see a different story? (Score:2)
Re:Does anyone see a different story? (Score:3, Insightful)
Although the do not call list helped for a little while, all of the companies get around it now by "taking surveys" -- generally, their survey consists of saying "Do you want to buy overpriced product X?" Until the "do not call" really means "do not call," these lists aren't going to do anything. Of course, yo
Re:Does anyone see a different story? (Score:2)
Re:Does anyone see a different story? (Score:2)
Re:Does anyone see a different story? (Score:2, Funny)
Here is the point where I put the phone back on my belt without hanging up.
Re:Does anyone see a different story? (Score:3, Funny)
I always take the phone and put it near the TV so they can be entertained. After all, companies play music for you while you're on hold, don't they? Usually I put the phone on the subwoofer. People like bass right? Sometimes I put in The Matrix and skip to the scene where they shoot up the lobby of that building. People like The Matrix, right?
Re:Does anyone see a different story? (Score:2)
URBAN LEGEND (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Does anyone see a different story? (Score:2)
In fact, how does that work at all? In the UK you cannot be reverse-charged for texts or calls unless you initiate the call or have signed up to a service, unless you have an obscure calling plan which charges you to recieve calls. What's the US's rules on this like?
Re:Does anyone see a different story? (Score:2)
Nooo! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Nooo! (Score:5, Funny)
Unfortunately, it is for me...
Re:Nooo! (Score:2)
Re:Nooo! (Score:2)
yay! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:yay! (Score:2)
Re:yay! (Score:2)
Why should a sender be able to control what happens to a message that my device receives? It's all well and good that they can tell the network to drop the message after X seconds (assuming it isn't delivered) -- but why the hell should they be able to tell my device what to do with that message?
What's next? A new e-mail protocol where you can add an "X-No-Archive" like header to your messages and force the
Re:yay! (Score:2)
what drives these conflicts is the need for profit and growth in the existing companies
Re:yay! (Score:2)
Works for me, mostly. (Score:2)
*NO* text message that *I* get is worth keeping around after I read it. If it was, I'd just e-mail it to myself or copy/paste it to another application.
I like the idea, YMMV.
One more reason... (Score:5, Insightful)
Imagine the lamely suggestive ads for it, too (Score:2)
Assuming they do include photos in a bit, just think of the various "send your husband a hot image" ads we'll see for it. Polaroid cameras tried to pitch themselves that way based on the supposed privacy of not needing to develop anything, at least back in the day, and I've seen at least one video-enabled phone commercial in which someone picked up someone else's call an
Re:Imagine the lamely suggestive ads for it, too (Score:2)
As a service this would sell to a) bad managers and b) people who make videotapes of themselves... Wait a second, how do I invest again? That seems to be a fair-sized market.
There are good managers?
Where article's $protocol = WAP (linked in txtmsg) (Score:3, Interesting)
Double Take (Score:3, Funny)
Re:False sense of security (Score:2)
Just as governement agencies can request your telephone records if you call someone with a death threat (now, in complete secrecy, whether or not you've violated the law), it's hard to imagine them not being able to acquire the same kind of information from the service responsible for routing them.
Re:False sense of security (Score:3, Insightful)
Just as governement agencies can request your telephone records if you call someone with a death threat (now, in complete secrecy, whether or not you've violated the law), it's hard to imagine them not being able to acquire the same kind of information from the service responsible for routing them.
So the protocol would force the message to be deleted off the headset but the network would retain a copy? Kinda defeats the purpose of the security doesn't it?
Do the cell networks even keep a copy of normal
Re:False sense of security (Score:2)
exploding phones (Score:2)
Du
Du hast
Du hast 40 zeconds to read zis message...
Oh, goodie ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Text messaging reduced to the level of that arcade game where alligators poke up through holes, and you have to hit them on the head before they disappear. Maybe I can try this while driving, just to make it more interesting.
Re:Oh, goodie ... (Score:2)
Re:Oh, goodie ... (Score:2)
This concept failed with email (Score:2)
Based on Microsoft technology (Score:4, Funny)
Just who owns the message anyway? (Score:2)
Re:Just who owns the message anyway? (Score:3, Informative)
What's wrong with flash messages? (Score:2)
Stallman got it right, again (Score:5, Insightful)
Imagine if you get an email from your boss telling you to do something that you think is risky; a month later, when it backfires, you can't use the email to show that the decision was not yours. "Getting it in writing" doesn't protect you when the order is written in disappearing ink.
Imagine if you get an email from your boss stating a policy that is illegal or morally outrageous, such as to shred your company's audit documents, or to allow a dangerous threat to your country to move forward unchecked. Today you can send this to a reporter and expose the activity. With treacherous computing, the reporter won't be able to read the document; her computer will refuse to obey her. Treacherous computing becomes a paradise for corruption...
Re:Stallman got it right, again (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Stallman got it right, again (Score:2)
Re:Stallman got it right, again (Score:2)
You tell him no, and if he insists, you leave.
Re:Stallman got it right, again (Score:2)
Imagine if you get an email from your boss telling you to do something that you think is risky; a month later, when it backfires, you can't use the email to show that the decision was not yours.
Imagine if there was a button labeled 'print screen' on the keyboard that sent the screen data to the printer... or at least the clip
Re:Stallman got it right, again (Score:2)
Interested Customer (Score:5, Funny)
Love and kisses,
Paris Hilton.
me too! (Score:2)
"Think of the children" angle (Score:2)
Re:"Think of the children" angle (Score:2)
Re:"Think of the children" angle (Score:2)
This already exists (Score:5, Funny)
For more information check http://www.smarttrust.com./ [www.smarttrust.com]
Regards!
But it still gets archived for investigations (Score:2)
I predict (Score:5, Insightful)
I predict:
From my personal point of view this "auto descruction" feature should only be seen as a convenience where phones autodelete messages to keep enough free memory space.
Easily Defeated. (Score:2)
Re:Easily Defeated. (Score:2, Funny)
Oh wait...
Great Idea (Score:5, Funny)
The only problem is, it doesn't really work ... (Score:5, Informative)
A mobile software consultancy [ionsquare.com] I work for is actually working on a project for a client which takes things a step further by encrypting the traffic from the server to the client and allowing the user to read it only via a J2ME MIDlet which never stores the messages to the RMS (persistent storage). For more information check out www.simtext.com [simtext.com]
The next version of Sony DRM ????? (Score:2)
Big deal (Score:3, Funny)
in related news (Score:2)
imagine that
Terrorists will love it (Score:3, Interesting)
Tom
Here and yet wont happen (Score:3, Insightful)
Whilst I don't doubt that this kind of functionality has the potential to be good and bad - anything which requires support from the majority of vendors before it can be used will fail unless there is a significantly compelling reason to have it (eg. T9).
I don't see this as being quite in the same league as T9 though.
Re:Here and yet wont happen (Score:2)
yeah my network (02 in the uk) uses those for balance information after each call (pay as you go service).
First Post! (Score:3, Funny)
TTL in a patentable paraphrase? (Score:2)
Um... this sound like it is just a time-to-live applied to a service protocol... it's not exactly rocket science or a new concept. But they've got a buzzword to file off to the patent office. Fantastic!
I subscribed earlier (Score:3, Funny)
Anyway, nothing comes across as a text message. Rather, the phone will display the received item as a Service Command message. Clicking 'open' automatically starts the WAP on the phone, which connects to the StealthText server and displays the message. Standard operator charge applies however, so it's probably something that people are going to complain about when they notice that tiny increment on their bills.
But still
aka spam me senseless (Score:2)
Distruct (Score:2, Funny)
Fundamental nature of information is changing (Score:2)
Saw it on Gmail (Score:2)
There's a 16-year old out there (Score:2, Interesting)
Clearly, this is a bad idea.
All it will result in is more cyber-bullying, among other things.
common bussiness... (Score:2)
Delete after its read (Score:2)
Too old for this shit (Score:2)
You can spend hours telling me about how this will work for the majority of non-hackers and how it will be of some benefit to some very wealthy companies, but in the end all you'r
Second utility phone? (Score:3, Insightful)
Anyone depending on this for any real "security" is an idiot.
New? (Score:3, Informative)
dot boom) for email (funny how the article mentions they plan to add
email soon). I don't remember the details, but I remember being
unimpressed by the tech.
Same concept as this article: You sent your email to the service, they saved
it on a server and sent the recipient an email with a link. After the mail was
read it was deleted.
I never heard about it again. I don't think the company made enough
money to stay in business.
Re:You're slipping Slashdot (Score:5, Insightful)
That is not the point. Some of us simply don't have the time to check a million other websites, instead we use Slashdot and a handful few others that can filter out stuff of interest.
Maybe if you subscribed to a couple of hundred tech-blogs, you might end up knowing half the headlines on Slashdot. But it's much easier to just read it on Slashdot, in one place, when I can be sure that it will eventually show up.
It was a couple of days late. So what? By the time the service would be available, it would be more than a few days later.
I do not understand this obsession with, "Oooh, I saw this on $foo 32 minutes and 23 seconds ago. Slashdot is SLOWWWWWWWWWWW."
Big deal. Some of us don't really care, as long as we hear about it somehow. Slashdot is primarily a forum, if you are a news junkie, look at other sources.
*shakes head*
Re:You're slipping Slashdot (Score:2, Funny)
Re:You're slipping Slashdot (Score:2)
>But it's much easier to just read it on Slashdot, in one place, when I
>can be sure that it will eventually show up.
Several times, even, in case you missed it.
I see that as a feature, not a bug.
Re:How appropriate (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't think they actually send you the text message. My guess would be that it's stored on their server (better have a WAP data plan) and they just tell you it's there.
The whole "40 seconds" thing is most definitely a lie. I'm sure England has data-retention laws specifying a minimum length the company must hold the message contents. (hint hint, just because you delete you
Re:What's the point (Score:2)
Re:What's the point (Score:2)
Don't ask... don't tell... (Score:5, Funny)
well, exactly that is the point. there's a little 007 in every real british man :-)
Where british men store their action figures is their own business...
Re:TERRORIST THREAT! (Score:2)
It only really protects you for messages you've got on your phone when you lose your phone and not messages being intercepted while in transit. If you're worried about people reading messages off your phone I've got an even better idea - delete them once you've read them and then you don't go "whoops - didn't read that in the 40 seconds as someone was talking to
Re:Circumvention (Score:2, Informative)
This particular attempt at secure messaging will be circumvented in
From stealthtext.net:SECURITY: While the message is deleted off the recipient's phone, like any phone call or text, the 'paper trail' and log stays on a protected, secur