[JDEV] News: Company crippled over alleged ICQ leaks

[Ben Thompson]

On Thu, Mar 15, 2001 at 09:05:56PM -0800, object at intelectronica.net wrote:
> 
> hey,
> did anyone see this funny news item? gives you a pretty good
> idea about why it is nice to have one IM system that allows you
> to encrypt messages (and also makes it even more clear why a
> technology market led by a bunch of incompetent playboys isn't

Actually, encryption wouldn't solve any of problems outlined in the article. If you save logs of messages on a computer, that machine could be stolen and the logs passed on to others. Encryption will stop people listening in to the message as it is sent, it won't solve any other problems (yes you could encrypt the entire log file but chances are the key will be stored on the machine some way obvious). 

In reality the only way to avoid this problem is to never save logs from instant messaging conversations. In the same way that its wise not to record phone calls its sensible to not record IM conversations (and probably wise to ensure that the client you use does not have the ability to save logs).

Ben