[DFSci] Vanish - A tool to make online personal data vanish

[Serguei Mokhov]

On Thu, Jul 23, 2009 at 1:23 PM, Gregg Gunsch<ggunsch at defiance.edu> wrote:
> Note the VERY important caveat:  while the data is active(viewable), it can
> be copied, pasted, printed, and saved.  "Vanish" is for communications
> between trusted parties where both agree to allow it to disappear after the
> timeout.  Its primary benefits are to prevent interception and subsequent
> recovery.

As I read it it's only to prevent the recovery after the set timeout,
not the interception. If anyone intercepts the message before the
timeout they may still read it, so it simply prevents recoverable
_archiving_ of the messages. Of course, if one end of the Vanish
communications saves/prints/makes a screenshot of it externally while
within the timeout, they still can do it, just like one can bug
the phone line or record audio conversation. From the legal standpoint,
I am not sure if the externally saved/printed message will have
the same level of authenticity as the unvanished original and
whether it'd be admissible in court if it is a subject of
subpoena or a new employer searching your Facebook profile for
any discriminating factors -- the latter to seems to be their most
major concern -- to erase the history.

-s

> - Gregg
>
> Gregg Gunsch, Ph.D., PE, CISSP, GCFA, CCE
> Professor of Digital Forensic Science
> Defiance College
> 701 N. Clinton, St., Defiance, OH 43512
> 419-783-2460    ggunsch at defiance.edu
> http://www.defiance.edu/pages/BASS_majors_DFS.html
> Caveat Interretiarius


-- 
Serguei Mokhov
http://www.cs.concordia.ca/~mokhov
http://marf.sf.net | http://sf.net/projects/marf