[TECH] Cool or UnCool: TigerText

Rocket River · Feb 26, 2010

Cool or UnCool?

Rocket River

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1968233,00.html?cnn=yes

TigerText: An iPhone App for Cheating Spouses?
By Belinda Luscombe Friday, Feb. 26, 2010

Photograph for TIME
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Tiger Woods, if you're reading this, remember that you've been through what mothers call a "valuable learning experience" and you're probably a "better man for it" and so on. Having said that, an iPhone app that launched on Feb. 25 could totally have saved your hide.

Called, coincidentally enough, TigerText, it allows users to set a time limit on how long a text that they send will hang around after it has been read. When that lifespan has been exceeded, the message will disappear, say the developers, from the recipient's phone, the sender's phone and any servers. The message cannot be forwarded anywhere, stored anywhere or sold to any tabloids for an undisclosed sum.
(A brief history of the Tiger Woods Scandal.)

It works like this: when, say, a prominent Southern politician sends his mistress an iPhone message via TigerText, the mistress will be prompted to install the app. When she has done this, she can read the message, but she can't keep it. In fact the message is never actually sent to her phone — it's stored on Tiger Text's servers. After the timespan that the politician specified has elapsed — anywhere from one minute to five days — the message ceases to exist. There's even a "Delete on Read" setting, which counts down from 60 after it's opened, and erases the text at zero.
(See the top iPhone applications.)

For those who need an even more comprehensive covering of their tracks, the "delete history" option will wipe any evidence of a given phone call. No tell-tale suspicious numbers, no chance of getting caught out by the old Press Redial routine.
(Comment on this story.)

While the implications for philanderers — and spies — are obvious, the app was not actually developed for them, says founder Jeffrey Evans, a former recruiter and headhunter, and not, at least on the basis of one interview, a particularly paranoid guy. The name was in place before the Tiger texting scandal, he claims, and the company decided to stick with it. Evans' real concern is about privacy. "People text like they talk," he says. "And some of the things they say, taken out of context, can come back to haunt them."
(Get the latest gadget news and reviews at Techland.com.)

He points out the European Union ruled in 2006 that phone and internet providers were required to keep all cell phone and email data for a certain period of time. "That just seems wrong, and an invasion of privacy," he says. "We have not caught on to the implications of all these conversations being kept for so long." While he acknowledges that the app might also be a boon to teens who are in the habit of sexting, drunk-texting, or "running off at the thumb," he thinks lawyers and their clients, or business executives involved in a complicated deal will be even more interested.

Obviously there are times when you just shouldn't hit send; at it's most basic level, Tiger-Texting is like paying $2.50 a month for stupidity insurance. But let's face it, who among us has never needed a do-over?
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YaosDirtyStache · Feb 26, 2010

I coulda used this years ago when black mailing the teacher who touched me.

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[TECH] Cool or UnCool: TigerText

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