In an effort to broaden your knowledge regarding anonymity on the internet. I feel compelled to share my opinions on the recent hype of Untraceable, Recordless and Anonymous electronic mail. It seems as though numerous service providers have attempted to create such an useful service, however, most give up; fail.

The concept behind anonymous email is simple. Create a system that seperates the body of the message (the content) from the header information (who, what, when, where and the like). The process sounds simple, give or take a few elements it really isn’t too difficult. However, creating a reliable system that is flexible, secure and available remotely is in fact a challenge all on its own.

E-mail has been both a blessing and a curse. A blessing, in that it’s been a boon to productivity. A curse, because privacy and confidentiality have been lost..

VaporStream Corporate FAQ

VaporStream, an online service provider believes they have created the new revolutionary innovation for recordless email correspondance. Creating an environment where email messages are secure via encryption and other crazy features has been done in the past, however, VaporStream has taken it a notch further. Once a StreamMessage is sent via

their server, it is stored until it is read. The process of reading the message requires users to login to their encrypted website, over SSL. Once logged in, VaporStream promises users to not be able to print, copy, cut, paste, download or otherwise save the contents of the message.

VaporStream also has created a method for seperating the header of the email from the body. Having the information seperated creates a truly anonymous messaging experience, however, I have a few problems with the service.

I am all in favor of such a service, however, any clue as to how they’re covering the following tracks?

What if a user receives a message and decides to use a desktop recording application to take screenshots at say, 10 frames per second. The captures would duplicate the message, doing exactly what they say can’t be done. Wouldn’t users be able to take screen captures via PRINT SCREEN of the message as well? Granted there is not proof as to who sent the message because of the seperated header information. The message contents itself is still kept in tact.

VaporStreams policy states that they do not “log” messages, however, if authorities approach them and want to establish a wiretap per se on a specific account, they will begin logging the messages traveling within such said account.

Maybe I am being overly anal, I am half tempted to signup for an account and pay the forty dollars just to test my theory. However, if anyone else already has an account or has some tests they would like me to perform, I will spend the money. There is always the option of say, a few people throwing down a few bucks and getting a company account ($5.00 per user) and using it to see how it works. Thoughts?

[tags]anonymous, anonymity, email, vaporstream, mail[/tags]