Researchers develop tool to make posted data on web disappear

It is the answer to prayers of those who feel like taking back the information they posted on the net – a tool that allows users to make text on web disappear.

The tool is called Vanish and comes as a stand-alone application or a free plug-in for Mozilla's Firefox browser. It works with any text that can be entered through browser – web-based email or chat services and social networking sites such as Facebook or Google Docs.

The tool developed by University of Washington researchers makes electronic communications self-destruct and become irretrievable from all web sites, inboxes, outboxes, backup sites and home computers.
 
The tool will be useful to people who post sensitive information that may linger on computer networks and may later be used against them in various social engagements such as interviews, lawsuits or in other unintended ways. The technique enables encryption of information with a secret key, which is then scattered over dozens of pieces and distributed over random computers that form peer-to-peer file-sharing networks.

Vanish allows users to specify that all copies of any text-based data they create disappear over a certain period of time. The software leverages the same peer-to-peer network capabilities that allow people to share music files online. Since peer-to-peer networks are always changing, allowing computers to join and exit, pieces of the key disappear which means the original pieces cannot be recovered and the key cannot be reconstructed.

However, Vanish cannot protect data if the recipient cuts the protected data and pastes it elsewhere. Also data cannot be protected if the recipient allows third parties to see it while it can be read.

But the tool could provide a valuable level of protection in cloud computing environments when emails, pictures and other potentially sensitive data may be stored on dozens of hard drives that are dispersed all over the globe. To security and regulatory authorities confronted with issues related to data-retention policies tools like Vanish may offer a useful approach, say experts.

Users of Vanish would do well to first heed a few caveats – both the user and recipient of any posting must be using the software for it to work. The researches also warn that the software is a prototype, meaning it may have bugs and that since it is 'ahead of the law', the legal framework for its use is not yet in place.

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the Alfred P Sloan Foundation and Intel.