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January 12, 2007

POOF! YOUR NAUGHTY E-MAIL'S GONE
By PAUL THARP

January 12, 2007 -- Your naughty e-mailed videos and written secrets will soon be safe from unwanted scrutiny with a new e-mail that self-destructs in just seconds, with no traces left.

The vanishing video and text are the brainchild of a small e-mail provider, BigString of Redbank, N.J., founded a year ago by a former Wall Street dot-com trader and several dot-com survivors from the late 1990s.

"Sometimes videos and e-mails can become very embarrassing or wind up unexpectedly on YouTube and other places you don't want it to be seen," said Darin Myman, 41, CEO of BigString.

He said the self-destructing e-mail is perfectly legal, since it isn't willful or part of a cover-up.

Data can be timed to vanish after just three readings, for example, or in just 30 seconds or as long as several weeks or more.

"Options also block the recipient from saving the emails or printing them. It's 'for-your-eyes only,' and only for a fleeting moment," Myman added. One video e-mail is even consumed simultaneously in graphic flames as it is being read.

The company, bankrolled by investor Paul Tudor and other investors is hitting the market today. The service costs $30 a year.