I'm sort of surprised that this hasn't been patented previously, although I think there are some nuances that vary from prior systems of "self-destructing" email. The one system that I'm familiar with was from a company that was called, at the time, "Disappearing, Inc." (perhaps the most cleverly named company in our field of endeavor). That system was based upon the encryption of a message, with the decryption key held in escrow. The key is what was given a retention period. Once the key was deleted, the messages couldn't be read. They would exist, technically, but the encryption was nearly impossible to break. I think Symantec ended up with the company after a couple of cycles. I saw two problems with that method. 1) The recipient was subject to the retention policies of the sender. 2) The message technically still existed and I suspected that a court might try to compel decryption at some point. I think there were also some controls that would limit
what the recipient could do with the message.
I tried to read the entire patent application and it made my head hurt. This method is very similar, although I think this assures deletion of the email (along with controls over what the recipient can do with the message). My sense is that this would primarily be utilized within an organization, rather than between different organizations (because my two concerns above really don't go away). That said, where you have a common intermediary (like Microsoft or Google), I suppose that you could have them broker a common retention system across different organizations sharing a similar email platform (like Office 365 or Gmail). The next logical step is to design a common interface and create an Internet standard with some sort of common brokers to manage the retention periods and ensure deletion of the messages. That said, it still makes the recipient beholden to the sender's retention schedule, which is problematic.
Patrick Cunningham, CIP, FAI
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"Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier."
-- Colin Powell
________________________________
From: Peter Kurilecz <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, July 1, 2013 10:47 PM
Subject: [RM] Fwd: Patent filed for self-destructing email | SciTech | GMA News Online
Patent filed for self-destructing email | SciTech | GMA News Online
Nearly 50 years after it was made popular by the TV show "Mission:
Impossible," the self-destructing message could inch closer to reality very
soon.
US telecom firm AT&T has sought a patent for a system of self-destructing
emails with the US Patent and Trademark Office.
http://bit.ly/14Le2G9
Source:
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/315234/scitech/technology/patent-filed-for-self-destructing-email
See if people are clicking on this link: http://bit.ly/14Le2G9+
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--
Peter Kurilecz CRM CA
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Richmond, Va
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