p2pnet - rss feed: Suicidal DRM for mobiles
p2p news / p2pnet: Ur mssn shld u dcde 2 accpt it.
Heh : )
That’s the headline to a story in The Inquirer and it refers to a form of suicidal DRM called Stealth Text that’s being offered to mobile users.
“It seems to be proving so popular you can’t get through to it,” says the story. “The objective is to send people text messages which ’self-destruct’ after they’ve been sent. Customers for this service are expected to be government organisations, the military and naughty celebrities.”
“At 50 pence (about 89 cents) a throw (plus online data charges), Stealth Text also seems to be aimed at the moderately wealthy. It presently appears restricted to the UK and won’t work for sending from 3 mobile phones either.”
From Staellium UK, StealthText service, it’s for “a celebrity who’s up to no good or a business executive dealing in sensitive information,” says the company, going on:
“StealthText allows you to send a text message safely in the knowledge that it will delete itself from the recipient’s mobile phone as soon as the person has read it – ultimately, allowing the sender control of their own information.
Until now, mobile phone users have had to rely on recipients to delete sensitive text messages on their behalf; although a number of high profile cases (Rebecca Loos), have shown that this cannot always be relied on.
“However, by simple keying in a code, StealthText users can rest assured that the message goes up in smoke, just like the famous tapes scenes in the Mission Impossible series.”
So if you see deeply shocked, wealthy looking men and women with smoke pouring from their ears and holding melted mobiles, you’ll know what it’s all about.
The original Mission Impossible TV series, which has nothing to do with the appalling Tom Cruise movies of the same name, featured a Not-Spok Leonard Nimoy.
Also read:-
The Inquirer - Ur mssn shld u dcde 2 accpt it, December 12, 2005
December 12th, 2005 at 5:56 pm
“StealthText allows you to send a text message safely in the knowledge that it will delete itself from the recipient’s mobile phone as soon as the person has read it…”
Ransom demands, insider trading info, death threats, what a godsend.
December 12th, 2005 at 6:33 pm
“Ransom demands, insider trading info, death threats, what a godsend.”
The recipient won’t be allowed to keep a copy of the text, but what about the carrier? It’s likely they will keep copies of everything for benefit of law enforcement and other government agencies.
December 12th, 2005 at 9:20 pm
Good point. If that is the case (which does seem likely), what good is the service? If the purpose of the service is to “cover your tracks” then they would be um… missing the point?