Sign in to view
member only content

Much of peer-to-peer messaging is not truly private, and often the data users create is not always under their ownership — even when messages are encrypted, its security can be undermined when sent across multiple applications. As the recent legal battle between the US government and Apple shows, privacy remains a major issue for technology companies.

Developers at Sesame have been working on a social messaging app, which features functions that protect users’ privacy. On top of end-to-end encryption, users have legal ownership and control of their content, and are able to ‘unsend’ and delete their messages, files and pictures at any time, even years after. The app also enables customizable permissions, so users can disable forwarding, go off the record, control who can save their messages, as well as set time and view limits on each item they send.

Sesame also provides a digital assistant — Personal Cognitive Agents — which will monitor user’s data on each thread, and make sure that recipients are in compliance with their privacy wishes. The software is capable of machine learning, and changes when communicating with different people. Users can also run independent audits at any time and be assured that all their permissions have been followed.

We have already seen a keyboard extension app that sends hidden, encrypted messages. How else can apps give users more control and protection over the data they create and send?