 | | | Eric Pawlakos is a sophomore at UC Davis, majoring in statistics. He is a member of the UC Davis rugby team, and enjoys playing guitar in his spare time.
| | | | | | App: TextSecure by
Whispersystems
For: Android phones
(coming soon for iPhones)
Price: Free
TNot a day goes by without some headline alerting us to the spying technologies that can be used today, including the ability to access an individual's email. You assume your text messages are only being read by the person you sent them to, but you can't know for sure. However, if you ever have the need, or desire, to send an encrypted text message from your smartphone, then you should take a look at TextSecure. It is a very straightforward app. You can send text messages to any recipient who is also using TextSecure, with the knowledge that your text will be encrypted and not readable by anyone but the recipient. To ensure full privacy, this app encrypts the text messages over the air so they can't be intercepted and read. They are also encrypted on your phone. The app is simple to use. Once your personal passphrase is inputted, you can turn the app either on or off. The option exists to copy all your existing text messages to TextSecure and have them encrypted. This is really handy if you ever lose your phone or leave it sitting around where someone else might sneak a peek. Even if you never want to send an encrypted text message, TextSecure's ability to encrypt the text messages saved in your phone makes it an app worth having.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA