# Text Much? It's not Wholly Private!



## MA-Caver (Feb 7, 2008)

> *Text Messaging Privacy*
> Tue Feb 5, 2008 5:16AM EST
> http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/hughes/22629/text-messaging-privacy
> Text-messaging privacy is a hot topic once again, thanks to the latest text-messaging sex scandal involving Detroit's Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his chief of staff Christine Beatty. The Detroit Free Press examined over 14,000 text messages obtained from Beatty's pager, publishing those that confirmed the two were having an affair and lied under oath about it.
> ...


The article goes on to offer tips on keeping your messages private. Not that any of YOU would be doing something you shouldn't be doing ...  :uhyeah: 

Beyond what the article offers do you have any other tips/hints/ideas on how to keep your messages just between you and whomever you send them to?


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## Big Don (Feb 7, 2008)

my friends and i have our own "shorthand" that is just about indecipherable to anyone without our special twisted sense of humor. For instance Bob is never Bob, one time Bob might be "That guy" the next he may well be "oh greaaaat", etc. If anyone did decipher and read all my text messages, boy oh boy, would they be bored.


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## Carol (Feb 7, 2008)

Notice how the carriers talk about how the data is "on the network."  Meaning: on their servers.

I'm sure the messages don't stay on the server very long.  All servers have finite disk space.  Logs get overwritten with time and traffic.  

However. once the data is captured and put in a log, the logs can get transferred off the network in to a storage area.  This can be done for any number of legitimate business reasons...archiving operations, billing procedures or troubleshooting efforts that aren't directly related to the text in question but capture the data anyway.

The data can be around possibly forever.

Personally I find Verizon's quote to be a bit suspect.  That doesn't sound like the kind of public statement that would come from a telecom company of their size and stature.


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## Shicomm (Feb 8, 2008)

Just one word:  Echelon .... 

More info : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON

Unless you encrypt or encode your stuff it's never private... 
It's as simple as that.


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