[IP] Re: Vanish: Self-destructing digital data

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

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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