Can PRISM record or log secure texting apps like Tigertext?

[fredshantle]

This PRISM thing with the NSA has kinda freaked me out a little bit. I am not trying to hide anything, but do I really want our government to access all my communications anytime they want? Not really.

My questions is, even though the messages auto-delete, can PRISM (or anyone else) still record or log them?

[parsec]

Re: Can PRISM record or log secure texting apps like Tigertext?

Interesting question, but think about the details in all that. Do cell phone companies record every conversation and text message? I highly doubt it.

Given that, a voice conversation must be recorded in real time, as it happens. That happens during the conversation's transmission, from point A to B.

So text messages would also need to be recorded when they are transmitted, passing through the telecommunication networks. A transmitted message is easily logged.

Does your TigerText text messaging just encrypt the message? Or is it transmitted on a local network in the hospital, never leaving the building?

If the government can just read the inbox/outbox of cell phones anytime, that would be pretty bad. Cell phones use solid state flash memory that is considered to be not readable once the same storage area is written over at least once. HDDs supposedly can be read after being written over several times, using special equipment.

It's also important to know what really happens when a text message is "deleted". Is the area in flash storage that held the message over-written or reset? Or is just the phones file system entry for the message removed, and the message is still there until it is over written? That is how the typical PC file system works. So an Auto-delete would need to over write or reset the bits in flash memory to truly cause the message to be unreadable.

Regardless, if you can catch the message "in the air" or wires, and decode it, it's yours.