Re: Vanish: Self-destructing digital data

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Bruce Schechter <bruce () schechter com>
Date: July 23, 2009 5:37:18 PM EDT
To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: RE:   Vanish:  Self-destructing digital data

Hi Dave,
For IP, if you wish...
Forgive me if this is a naïve question, but can someone please explain  
the use case where self-destructing data is practical, given that a  
recipient of the data could copy it, save it, take a "screenshot",  
etc., before the bullet is fired on self-destruction?
Thanks, Bruce

Bruce Schechter | bruce () schechter com



-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber [mailto:dave () farber net]
Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 2009 4:17 PM
To: Ip Ip
Subject: Re: Vanish: Self-destructing digital data



Begin forwarded message:

From: "Ed Gerck, Ph.D." <egerck () nma com>
Date: July 22, 2009 12:09:03 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: ip <ip () v2 listbox com>
Subject: Re: [IP] Vanish:  Self-destructing digital data

[Dave: for IP if you wish]
> From: Tadayoshi Kohno <yoshi () cs washington edu>
> Date: July 21, 2009 1:28:00 PM EDT
> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: Vanish:  Self-destructing digital data
>
> Today the New York Times reported on our "Vanish" research project
> on "self-destructing data":  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/science/21crypto.html
> .

Congratulations on the NYT article. However, the significant point of
using a trust model that does not depend on the integrity of third
parties is not new, while relying on a peer-to-peer network for "key
hiding" is by itself an unsolved problem today (both technically and
commercially).  The free "Zmail Basic"  listed in "Ten Free Services
To Send Self-Destructing Emails Which Expire/Disappear Automatically
After Specified Time Interval" at 
<http://thinkabdul.com/2007/07/25/ten-free-services-to-send-self-destructing-emails-which-expiredisappear-automatically-after-specified-time-interval/
> also uses a trust model that does not depend on the integrity of
third parties but the novelty there is that keys are not stored
anywhere (each dialogue party holds a part of it), and uses a system
of "minority control" to allow independent destruction of the
capability to reassemble the entire key.

Regarding legal issues surrounding the use of any "self-destruct"
technology, where certain laws do require that corporations archive e-
mails and make them accessible, the same "Zmail Basic" offers a
solution based on both technology and the legal control offered by the
US DMCA (and similar laws internationally), allowing senders to
independently control the lifetime of the information they send --
which is legally- and technically-effective.

Best regards,
Ed Gerck

(*) I designed Zmail Basic and Premium.






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