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"Discovery Files" Features from the National Science Foundation
"Vanishing Act"
Fully produced report in MP3 format:
48 kbps |
96 kbps
(90 seconds)
(Note: The abrupt ending to the audio for this report is intentional.)
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READER SCRIPT
(DOES NOT FULLY MATCH AUDIO)
"DELETE" MEANS "DELETE"... THE "DISCOVERY FILES": NEW ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. GETTING DATA ONTO THE INTERNET MAY BE ONE THING; THE REAL TRICK, HOWEVER, MAY BE GETTING RID OF THE DATA. WHEN YOU WRITE AN EXTREMELY SENSITIVE E-MAIL OR CHAT-MESSAGE, YOU REALLY HAVE NO IDEA WHERE THAT INFORMATION COULD TURN UP--EVEN YEARS LATER. UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON RESEARCHERS HAVE DEVELOPED A SYSTEM FOR MAKING THINGS LIKE WEB-BASED E-MAILS, "FACEBOOK" POSTS, AND OTHER SENSITIVE DATA HAVE A TRUE EXPIRATION-DATE--THAT IS, TO MAKE THE DATA "DISAPPEAR" FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH, NEVER TO BE RETRIEVED BY ANYONE. THE PROCESS WORKS THROUGH ENCRYPTION, WITH A PRE-DETERMINED TIMESTAMP--SO THAT, WHEN THE TIME COMES, ALL ELECTRONIC VERSIONS OF THE TEXT BECOME GIBBERISH. THE PROTOTYPE SYSTEM IS CALLED "VANISH": UNLIKE STANDARD ENCRYPTION--WHERE THERE'S A DECIPHER-KEY LYING AROUND SOMEWHERE--THE SECRET ENCRYPTION-KEY OF THE "VANISH" SYSTEM IS BROKEN UP INTO PARTS, LIKE A PUZZLE. EACH PIECE IS THEN SPRINKLED ON RANDOM COMPUTERS THAT BELONG TO WORLDWIDE FILE-SHARING NETWORKS; THOSE NETWORKS REGULARLY CHANGE, AS COMPUTERS JOIN OR LEAVE. EVENTUALLY, THE PARTS OF THE KEY ARE COMPLETELY INACCESSIBLE. USERS CAN SET SENSITIVE TEXT TO GO "KABLOOEY" IN ANY EIGHT-HOUR INCREMENT; BUT, ONCE IT'S GONE, IT'S GONE--EVEN FROM THE SENDER'S OWN COMPUTER. THE RESEARCHERS ARE MOVING BEYOND TEXT, TO IMAGES--AND, WHO KNOWS, MAYBE EVEN AUDIO. THE "DISCOVERY FILES" COVERS PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE GOVERNMENT'S NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOU! LEARN MORE AT "N-S-F"-DOT-GOV--OR ON THEIR PODCAST.
For additional "Discovery Files" features from the National Science Foundation, click here.
