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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. We're reminded time and time again to refrain from sending personal emails using the office computer. David Chamberlain, a wireless analyst for In-Stat, reminds us that users of any technology issued by an employer shouldn't expect to have any privacy. Should we have to worry about old texts resurfacing even when using our private lines?
AT&T says they keep messages for up to 72 hours, Sprint PCS for two weeks, and Verizon says texts don't stay on the network for a long period, adding "people can feel comfortable we're not storing information that can later be used against them." Oh, really? Then how is it that in many cases the police and even hackers have been able to obtain old text messages archived somewhere in a carrier's server?
There are inexpensive ways to intercept text messages out there using a radio kit, and the worst part is anyone can figure out how to create one by searching online. Bob Sullivan wrote a good article, after a Wal-Mart employee was caught spying on a New York Times reporter using a radio device.
We may not have any control over our texts once we hit the send button, but you can take a few precautions to keep yourself out of trouble later.
Here are a few tips:
· Don't ever text personal information such as your PIN number, password, or banking information to anyone. Remember, once you send that information to another person, it gets stored in their cell phone and you don't want that.
· Put a password on your phone to keep others from accessing your text logs or email. This will also prevent thieves from stealing information stored in your phone.
· iPhone owners may want to change their SMS preview settings to make incoming text messaging more private. Apple iPhone Review has instructions on how to do this.
· Those concerned about privacy, can send anonymous text messages with services like AnonTxt.com.
· Don't forget to erase all your personal data before selling, recycling or donating your old phone. Many people are still under the impression that taking out your SIM card will do the trick, but that's not true. You'll need a series of codes to permanently delete stored information in one step, instead of manually. For this, you'll need to find out if your phone has a "master reset" feature, which wipes out all the stored data at once. Since every phone has a different set of "master reset" instructions, you'll need to either look them up online or on your phone's manual. Recellular has a database of these codes with step-by-step instructions. You'll need your phone's make and model to get started, so if you don't know it, check the back of the phone or the box.
· Remember that no matter how secure you think your carrier's SMS servers are, the ultimate security of private text messages depends on the recipient.
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