“This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds … 5 ... 4 … 3 … 2 … 1”

“This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds … 5 ... 4 … 3 … 2 … 1”

Most people are familiar with the self-destructing audio tapes, mobile phones etc. from the Impossible Mission films. The idea of self-destructing messages is certainly not new. But how many times did it cross your mind while sending something out that how nice it would be that you could set a time after which the message you sent would simply self-destruct? Launch and forget.

The crypto coin project UltraNote (http://ultranote.org) went live a few months ago. Originally it had a messaging feature e.g. you could send an encrypted message along with a crypto coin (XUN) transaction. I though: “Cool, a little bit different than most others. But then what?”. Phase 2 brought with it encrypted attachments to the messaging feature. Now things started to look a lot more interesting.

In their latest release the smart developers at UltraNote (XUN) have come up with a solution for the self-destruct. Not only for the messages themselves, but any attachments as well. This concept brings with it a seemingly endless list of possible applications. Let’s look into a few ideas just to scratch the surface of what this new technology can do.

For example let’s think about protecting your photos or other digital content. You can send out photos that you want to be sure that only the designated recipient can view and it will be available for download only for a given time that you decide. Think family photos, photos of your children etc.

What about business uses? Well renting out videos comes to mind as an obvious use case. If you are a hobbyist photographer you could sell your creative content making sure it can’t be copied and re-distributed. How about a request for quotations – RFQ that you can send out and make self-destruct e.g. expire when the time frame for submissions runs out? Or in a similar manner a contract, work etc. with a deadline for the validity of the offer.

Think of applications like: cinema tickets, coupons, special offers, reward points, subscriptions, prescriptions...and then…I guess you have heard about recent issues regarding privacy concerns on various social media platforms, Google among others. They collect your private data and then sell it onwards to marketing companies.

How about a secure social media platform around this self-destruct concept? True control of the users own data through encryption and self-destruct. No more Google or social media user content history as you and only you decide when your content expires. I foresee new decentralized social media platforms where this can be offered. This would allow you to really know and control who can access what in your content and provide a convenient expiry date for the content. Think of it: Who really needs - or wants for that matter - to see photos of your new-born baby 3 years later except for yourself and your closest ones. Now you could easily have a public version of that same photo that you show your friends for a few days and then it is conveniently removed. For your close ones you choose to make it available for a little longer. No problem. The platform owner will not be able to use it or sell it. But for yourself it’s available as long as you want. This opens up a very different way of looking at privacy on a public network.

Here’s a simple test I did with the self-destructing messages. Please note that these features are still in beta-releases of the UltraNote wallet.

1. This is the view of the wallet messaging part. Let’s set up a simple message with a photo and send it to another wallet. Add the destination wallet address, write a message, pick a file to attach, tick on the optional self-destruct time-out and pick a delay. Optionally you may choose a higher level of anonymity for the message (this basically routes it through more UltraNote daemons in order to hide the trail). The fee is calculated automatically and in this case is about 2 XUN.

2.The message is now in the outbox of the sending wallet.

3.The inbox of the receiving wallet.

4.Message view.

5.The attachment has been downloaded from IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) and loaded into an image viewer

6.After the self-destruct time-out has been reached the message and it’s attachment are gone.

7.The message is even removed from the list of transactions. Only some earlier transactions remain visible. This is what the UltraNote developers mean when they say: Privacy at your fingertips. It truly is.

So how much does it cost to use this technology? The sample message with a photo attached costs 2 UltraNote (XUN) to send. As XUN is currently valued at around 31 Satoshis this will set you back a total of under 1 US cent per message – yes you read it right – less than 1 cent per message :-)

This amazingly cheap to use technology can become a real everyday tool for many purposes. Let’s summarize: you have control of who can see your messages and for how long and your messages and attachments are protected via encryption.

I can’t wait to see what kind of real world applications and use cases will come out based on the technology.