Cyber Dust app brings back the privacy of your text messages! Mark Cuban created an app which allows our conversations through text to not be recorded.
There will always be tension between using the latest technology and the capability of maintaining your privacy. With RFID chips, cameras recording your every move, GPS and tracking devices embedded in practically everything today, one wonders where a person could go to just get off the grid.
Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and Shark Tank investor, knows all too well, how this lack of privacy issue can cause great grief. He was just acquitted of insider trading last October, which almost cost him his reputation. His texts were taken out of context and the SEC (Securities Exchange Commission) tried framing him by saying he was illegally finding out private information on what stock he should trade. Due to his texts being so misconstrued and then used against him, he knew it was time to develop an app that would add the much needed privacy back into the messaging world.
“Something many of us don’t think about when texting is what happens when we press the SEND button,” Cuban stated. “When you hit ‘send’ on a text, you lose ownership of that text. Not only do you lose ownership, you retain responsibility for that text.” Here’s an eye-opening video I saw recently, which made me reevaluate just what I text and to whom. Check out the video here.
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Here’s where it gets a little freaky.
Cuban warns us that if anyone wanted to make a digital profile of who we are as a person (which is already happening), all they would have to do is check out our Twitter page and see who we follow and what we tweet. That, along with checking out Tumblr, Facebook, Pinterest and any other social media site and anyone would be able to know who we are as a person.
Even texting has some major ramifications that many of us don’t even think about. “Why on earth would ‘they’ want to save every single text message you have ever sent in the first place?” asks Cuban. “There’s only one logical reason and it’s never for your benefit.” He goes on to explain that it’s not the text that might be used against you, but the ability to take parts of the message out of context and give it a whole new meaning.
Hence, Cuban developed Cyber Dust, which helps you gain control of your digital footprint. After sending a text message through this app, the receiver has 24 hours to open it and then once opened, only 30 seconds to read it. Once it’s read, the message is erased and gone forever, whether it’s words, images or video. If the message isn’t opened in that 24 hour period, it is also erased forever. Both sender and receiver must be using the Cyber Dust app in order for this process to work. Another huge plus is that the FBI can’t come in and use any text against you because it’s never saved on any hard drive or server.
This app works just the same for email. The email is erased after being read while using Cyber Dust. Drawback – you must remember what you just read. Benefit – any and all messages sent through this method will remain what they should have remained from the beginning – private.
Obviously this privacy issue is a big enough concern if a majority of the other shark investors, Hollywood A-list celebrities, technology gurus and Maverick players are using Cyber Dust.
Question: What security apps are you using to protect your privacy? Share your answer by clicking here.