Posted on 10/08/2006 2:16:45 PM PDT by I'mPeach
NEW YORK -- Instant-messaging conversations, though quick, are not always fleeting.
Former Republican Rep. Mark Foley's salacious chats with teenage interns, know as pages, emerged along with e-mails last week as the congressman abruptly resigned. ABC News, which broke the story, has said former pages were the source of the revelations about instant messages from 2003.
Most likely, the pages who corresponded with Foley either manually saved messages or used IM software with built-in logging capabilities, allowing time-stamped chat sessions to be kept indefinitely on one's computer. The programs vary in whether the features are initially on or off and how well they notify users.
"Computers are really, really good at saving things, unlike a dumb telephone," said Richard M. Smith, an Internet security and privacy consultant at Boston Software Forensics. "If you don't want something to get out, don't put it in any computer form at all."
...snip...
AOL Instant Messenger, the most popular IM service in the United States, does not offer logging in its current consumer versions but does in its business-oriented AIM Pro software. AOL's service also can be accessed by Trillian and other third-party software with built-in logging.
...snip...
The tougher part may be proving the messages' authenticity, particularly when the evidence comes from the recipients. Logs are generally plain text files that can be easily altered.
Mark Rasch, a former Justice Department computer crimes prosecutor, said prosecutors must also prove that Foley was on the other end, not someone else using his IM account.
"We've got to prove that the instant-messaging session occurred and that Foley's hands ... (were) on his keyboard," Mr. Rasch said.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
"We've got to prove that the instant-messaging session occurred and that Foley's hands ... (were) on his keyboard," Mr. Rasch said.
It's also helpful to prove whether or not a crime was committed, but that's just me...
Exactly!
The odds of someone keeping their transcripts for years are slim at best. The odds of these being forged are very high I suspect.
That's true.
Most people don't back up their computers and when they lose a drive they lose all the data on it.
Unless there are third party server records authenticity is very hard, if not impossible, to prove.
I doubt if either of these would apply.
At my company, all IM's are recorded, and go back several years. There's no reason to delete anything, the files are relatively small, and I envision we'll have decades of records at some point, if the HR department has anything to do with it.
I may be wrong but I do not think any ISP records the actual text of IMs. There are so many during a day on a typical ISP they would fill a large harddrive. No way they could afford such storage.
Unless they're just holding the IM's (as opposed to entire file systems) that's A LOT of data to hold onto for years on end. It's also a lot of stuff to sift through to locate something incriminating at times like this.
"Aren't they supposed to be private messages?"
I think you are correct on the point you're making. However, the IM has at least two parties, and either can choose to save the posted text. I assume they would be lawfully able to publish same. A good thing to remember if you ever IM anyone. I never use IM software.
Gee. Who'dathunkit! E-mails and IMs are not private!
Doesn't really add up to too much drive space, to keep the IM records in a database...and we have the ability to filter by date and username, so it's not very hard to pinpoint needed conversation threads.
IM's may stick around but there is that pesky thing called the statute of limitations. It's silly to hold on to evidence when the statute tolls.
...except for political purposes, that is.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.