Share the Paranoia
February 06, 0001 issue

While courts fuss over the FBI's Carnivore email screening program, two companies offer to protect communications in ways that buck traditional email protocols. Their products favor peer-to-peer networking--the same method by which Napster users trade MP3 files.

Absolute Future of Bellevue, Wash., recently introduced SafeMessage, an email-independent system for sending messages that can self-destruct if the wrong party tries to access them.

Here's how it works: The sender prepares an encrypted message or document, sets a lifespan for it, and forwards the message to the intended recipient.

The program then determines whether the intended recipient is online. If so, the message is transferred directly. If not, the message remains on Absolute Future's secure servers until read.

Any attempt to forward, edit, or print the message or document triggers the self-destruct feature.

A similar product called ZixMail, from Zix Corporation of Dallas, has gotten a boost from placement on Yahoo! Mail and McAfee's Website. This program lets Microsoft Outlook users send messages or documents to anyone--regardless of whether the recipient uses Outlook or ZixMail.

If the intended recipient is a ZixMail user, the computers exchange the message without interference of mail servers.

A recipient who is not a ZixMail user receives an email notice that a message awaits at the company's SecureDelivery.com Website. But the recipient first needs to establish and enter a password before gaining access to the encrypted email.