Business

Send an e-mail without the WikiLeaks worries

With the concern that WikiLeaks may be preparing to expose Bank of America’s secrets, the concept of electronic communication without a paper trail seems particularly appealing.

VaporStream’s e-mail-like electronic conversation software offers a record-free way to discuss confidential matters.

VaporStream’s messages aren’t stored or documented and can’t be saved, printed or forwarded to others.

The header and body are composed separately and streamed to a temporary storage site, leaving no record of the message on the sender’s computer. The recipient clicks on the header to open the message, and once that window’s closed, it’s gone forever. Users should thus be careful not to close a message before they’ve fully absorbed its contents.

Even if someone takes a screen shot of a message, it’s separated from the header, so there’s no way to identify the sender or recipient.

Both parties have to use VaporStream to communicate that way, which may take some time to establish. But the service offers a 30-day free trial and then costs $7.50 per user per month. You can either download the Windows desktop application or mobile app (available for BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and the iPhone and iPad) or use the Web-based version of VaporStream’s software.

VaporStream claims that its product is completely ethical, as long as it doesn’t violate your company or industry’s electronic communications policy. Yet as e-mails have become useful in prosecuting white-collar defendants, VaporStream seems to offer a way for potential criminals to engage in illegal discussions, like those involving insider trading, without the fear of their communications being exposed.

VaporStream does allow for keyword filtering to prevent inappropriate conversations from occurring over this medium. And if it’s believed that an unsavory individual is using this technology to elude the law, VaporStream messages can be wiretapped like a phone call.

Yet preventing potential criminals from secretly communicating via VaporStream probably won’t stop them from breaking the law.

hlewis@nypost.com