How does new computer technology let users set data to self-destruct?
18. Tool Created to Make Online Personal Data Vanish Computers have made it virtually impossible to leave the past behind. College Facebook posts or pictures can resurface during a job interview. A lost cell phone can expose personal photos or text messages. A legal investigation can subpoena the entire contents of a home or work computer, uncovering incriminating, inconvenient or just embarrassing details from the past. Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a way to make such information expire. After a set time period, electronic communications such as e-mail, Facebook posts and chat messages would automatically self-destruct, becoming irretrievable from all Web sites, inboxes, outboxes, backup sites and home computers. Not even the sender could retrieve them. “If you care about privacy, the Internet today is a very scary place,” said UW computer scientist Tadayoshi Kohno. “If people understood the implications of where and how their e-mail is stored, they might
New technology lets users set data to self-destruct By SCOTT CANON The Kansas City Star What if you could send an e-mail to a co-worker, text a friend or post something on Facebook confident that it would eventually self- destruct? So long, immortality. Hello, peace of mind. Consider the technology that a quartet of computer scientists at the University of Washington introduced to the world in July. It’s called Vanish, and it’s designed to make your electronic messages do just that. “With self-destructing data, users can regain control over the lifetimes of their Web objects, such as private messages on Facebook, documents on Google Docs, or private photos on Flickr,” the researchers wrote in the paper announcing their work. They suggested the scenario of a fictitious Anne confiding to a friend the details of her troubled marriage. Anne might want to confide in her buddy, but as soon as the message had been read by that friend it could only pose trouble. Anne’s complaints about her hus
Yet, like almost every new information technology, it poses its share of fresh dilemmas. Criminals with a touch of computer know-how already can encrypt … Sources: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct2=us%2F0_0_s_1_0_t&usg=AFQjCNE6yBTCwFttRDYfmE7nb8RnkswSfQ&cid=1442154586&ei=ETrCSqCqJo3I8gTRzvD2Ag&rt=SEARCH&vm=STANDARD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kansascity.com%2F637%2Fstory%2F1477433.
