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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."
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.
My ASCII Porn! 40 seconds isn't nearly enough!
They will call their new technology... Divx?
signatures are for fools with hands
As if the average person wasn't already running under the assumption that they were somehow anonmyous in their electronic communications. Frankly, I wouldn't knowingly buy a phone that implemented this protocol and didn't allow it to be toggled.
I thought the text message got routed to their servers, and the receiver got a message with a link to the wap site. they'd then get sent to the wap site to see the text message, and the wap site would redirect or do something after 40 seconds to remove it from the viewer's screen. Standard http redirect?
When I first glanced at this I though of exploding phones, perhaps a la Rammstein. Now you can send death threats and stalking messages without those pesky records to catch up and convict you!
The 'Net is a waste of time, and that's exactly what's right about it. - William Gibson
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.
This is my post. There are many others like it. If you don't like what you read here, go try one of the others.
"No additional technology was required beyond [Microsoft] IIS," said a spokesman, "Once the message is read, the server crashes, and subsequent attempts to read the message fail. As they say, a crashed server is a secure server."
Old people fall. Young people spring. Rich people summer and winter.
Richard Stallman correctly predicted this was going to happen as a result of of DRM, also known as Digital Restrictions Management, Treacherous Computing, or Handcuffware. To quote from his essay "Can you trust your computer?":
...There are plans to use the same facility for email and documents--resulting in email that disappears in two weeks, or documents that can only be read on the computers in one company.
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...
Please sign me up for your new service.
Love and kisses,
Paris Hilton.
This kind of message already exists for GSM mobile phones. It's called WIG Push (SIM Browsing or SAT) messages. They are visible for a short time and vanish after a timeout.
For more information check http://www.smarttrust.com./
Regards!
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.
Sounds like a great idea. What happens if you can't finish reading it in ti..
One ring to bind them - should probably have more fiber and less rings in their diet.
Am sure almost every article on Slashdot was "reported" elsewhere beforehand.
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*
... 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).
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 SMS traffic? Or do they just log the fact that an SMS message was sent for billing purposes (like normal phone records -- they don't log the call itself)? Do they even keep a record of who you send messages to or just a running count?
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
I invented a protocol that can make the sun shine out of your ass, but you need to use an instant messenger that supports it.
But security agencies will require the company to archive all messages for five years ... or is it ten?
Tom
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.
Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
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 your voicemail, doesn't mean it's gone)
But... if they use a "private" flag & it relies on cooperation from clients, then it is broken.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
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...
I got a first post, but it self-deleted after 40 seconds...
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
Oh wait...
"Teleporting Rodents with D-Cell Battery Displacement" theory -- IgnoramusMaximus (692000)
I signed up for an initial batch of 5 messages. I did of course immediately write two fairly sexual messages to girls I know, seeing as its anonymous. Great fun.
.. anonymous text messaging. I've got three left and then I'll unsubscribe, it's far too pricey for what it is. But at least I get to tell the boss what I thought of his new shirt without him knowing it was me :)
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
Excellent! No more waking up in the morning feeling guilty that someone might have some incriminating evidence on you while text messaging drunk! I see the definate benefits!
[%] Cingular Ringtones
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.
who wishes it were available for use earlier this month.
Clearly, this is a bad idea.
All it will result in is more cyber-bullying, among other things.
Anyone depending on this for any real "security" is an idiot.
I forget what 8 was for.
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.