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This Text Message Will Self Destruct
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."
... because the system simply sends a WAP push to a page which expires after a given period of time - the request is made over plain HTTP. The problem is that WAP gateways often choose to ignore the "no-cache" directives as do a lot of WAP browsers, which means that the message remains in the cache and can still be read both by the client and the gateways along the route after it has expired. A quick test we ran showed the messages being stored on the memory of a phone even thought it wasn't supposed to be cached. Also, it is always possible to simply save the page source to a different file on the phone.
A mobile software consultancy 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
I'm not a lawyer, but I think that text messages would be the "intellectual property" of the writer unless the receiver had a written agreement with them that said otherwise. Ownership is technically given upon creation in the US, though a court usually asks for some sort of proof (ie, poor man's mail-in copyright).
Unless you work for a company that is publicly listed, since SEC regulations call for the permanent archiving (on "non-editable" media) of all electronic communications. Penalties for non-compliance are very steep...
Did you just copy and paste that directly from a forwarded email? Snopes.com has the same words, almost verbatim. And of course it's bullshit.
I remember seeing something like this about 5-6 years ago (during the
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.
Atlas stands on the earth and carries the celestial sphere on his shoulders.