New technology using key-based encryption will soon give people the option of allowing email messages and other forms of electronic data to “self delete”, or vanish, after a certain period of time.
The pieces of the key, small numbers, tend to “erode” over time as they gradually fall out of use. To make keys erode, or [...]
Disappearing data and self destructing email
Posted by John Lampard on Thursday, 23 July, 2009 to the technology subset
![]()
Babies names are not carried far and wide by the internet
Posted by John Lampard on Friday, 3 July, 2009 to the trends subset
Interesting premise, the rise of the internet and even globalisation has not created the global village that many people predicted it would.
At least this is the opinion of two researchers at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, after studying names given to babies since 1995. They found naming trends tended to remain local rather global despite [...]
![]()
Spotting fake emails, it’s all in the head
Posted by John Lampard on Thursday, 25 June, 2009 to the technology subset
The authenticity – or otherwise – of an email can usually quickly be ascertained by looking at the message’s header data, and makes for one way of working out whether the bank really is sending you all those emails.
I can send you an email now that basically says I’m your boss, but unless you look [...]
![]()
Imagine if 97% of the world’s snail mail was spam…
Posted by John Lampard on Friday, 10 April, 2009 to the comment subset
97% of all e-mails sent over the net are unwanted according to recent figures, and the deluge is largely due to crime syndicates who have changed their modus operandi, and technologies that now allow billions of messages to be dispatched quickly and easily, says a Microsoft spokesman.
Ed Gibson, chief cyber security advisor at Microsoft, said [...]
![]()
A word about email etiquette and attachments
Posted by John Lampard on Tuesday, 20 January, 2009 to the comment subset
Because it’s been topical recently, but that’s another story. I liked this sentence about email attachments that I found in this article on email etiquette:
Another thing to keep in mind when it comes to email attachment etiquette is that all attachments use the intended recipient’s resources, not yours.
![]()
How watertight are email disclaimers anyway?
Posted by John Lampard on Tuesday, 13 January, 2009 to the comment subset
Even if you attach a confidentiality disclaimer to your emails there’s still no ironclad guarantee – at least in Britain – that the contents of a message won’t end up splashed across news services all over the web.
Under English law, Halberstam goes on to explain, a recipient of a communication is obliged not to disclose [...]
![]()
The components of an email salutation
Posted by John Lampard on Tuesday, 6 January, 2009 to the comment subset
Once you’ve established a line of communication with someone via email, for how long do you continue to use a salutation to commence each message? Most people tend to drop the greeting two or three messages into the exchange.
The exception appears to be in situations where very formal salutations were used in the initial email, [...]
![]()
Email signature hacks will sink [ ] swim [X]
Posted by John Lampard on Wednesday, 3 December, 2008 to the trends subset
At the rate things are going we’ll also be attaching footers like this to private messages, direct tweets, and any other non-public online communication, rather than just emails.
By the way these footers, or “email signature hacks”, are by no means a new idea.
![]()
The case for emailing the person sitting next to you
Posted by John Lampard on Wednesday, 15 October, 2008 to the comment subset
Well, yes, when put it this way, there is a certain logic to emailing people sitting less than ten metres away from you…
I admit it – I regularly email colleagues who are sitting in the same room as me. But just think of the hassle involved in actually talking to them: first you have to [...]
![]()
Mail Goggles blindsides self-expression
Posted by John Lampard on Thursday, 9 October, 2008 to the comment subset
Sure Gmail add-on “Mail Goggles” may cut back on the drunkenly composed emails from thy ex, but think about all the other free-spirited communications that will go the way of the trash can:
The need for self-expression on a Friday night is absolute. I once took issue with a manufacturer of smoked salmon over a letter [...]
![]()







