Comments on: TIP: Logging Instant Messaging

By: Mark Shead

Mark Shead — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:12:21 +0000

Chat and email aren't good for every conversation. If you are discussing stuff that could be seriously detrimental if revealed, you shouldn't be doing it over email or chat. Even outside of hackers, subpoenas can get access to quite a bit of stuff. You should assume pretty much everything you do online is permanent.

By: Mark Shead

Mark Shead — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:08:28 +0000

Google has a way to take a conversation “Off the record” so it isn’t logged. I’m not sure how well this works and how it interacts with other chat clients made by other companies. Really though, if you are concerned about this for a particular conversation, you shouldn’t be using chat to discuss that subject.

By: Victor

Victor — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 08:09:14 +0000

I agree with this, but i should mention another issue with this.
Okay, let’s assume that we trust Google and believe that they won’t read/sell our conversations.
But there is possibility that Google (or any other company that stores logs) could be hacked and our personal information could fall into the hands of third parties.

By: Al Pittampalli

Al Pittampalli — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 16:06:27 +0000

This is a great tip. I didn’t realize the text was searchable from Gmail. Thanks.

By: Bones

Bones — Tue, 22 May 2007 14:07:20 +0000

Sometimes this ability can become useful, but other times it can be very dangerous: someone stole my conversation files, and now he/or she has read all of them. I can only imagine what use will be done of them!