Being an attorney with an iPhone, I've wondered about the privacy of my SMS-text messages and whether they can be withheld from prying eyes. I don't mean that dinner date across from you, but in a larger sense. Think about what we've all begun to say via text messages: Carrie Underwood got dumped this way and Detroit's mayor was brought down by his text messages, for example. Like it or not, texting has become a communication medium that is here to stay, meaning that the contents of those messages are also susceptible to legal discovery, i.e., you have may have to fork it over in a lawsuit. The iPhone itself is purported of being capable of storing about 75,000 SMS-text messages. That is almost too much data in your hands! You could probably write a small novel with that amount of text messages. If you're like most people, you gripe about life and work inevitably. But, what if your employer pays for your SMS plan, can they have a peek? Especially if you go over a plan's limit? What if you're sending (gasp) personal SMS-messages on work phones?
Well, according to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the answer is "no." An employer needs a sender's or receiver's consent before examining those messages. In a decision issued Wednesday, ( Quon v. Arch Wireless) the court (the highest federal court in the West short of the U.S. Supreme Court) said that the Fourth Amendment provides a reasonable expectation of privacy that extends into the world of SMS-text messages.
In the case, a city police department provided text-paging services for its officers, but had no clear text-use policy. Instead, the city relied on a general employee Internet/computer usage policy and tried to say that the SMS-texts were akin to e-mail messages. During an internal affairs investigation for excessive text-messaging charges, no less, the police department wanted to see if service-charge "overages" were work-related necessitating a better SMS-plan. After the messages were not on the PDA (d-for delete, anyone?), the city ended up getting the messages from the SMS-service provider itself. The appeals court determined the SMS-provider was subject to the provisions of the Stored Communications Act. Under that act, a "electronic communication service", like a SMS-provider, will need to get your OK before releasing the contents of these communications (which are akin to a sealed letter) because you have a legitimate expectation of privacy under the Fourth Amendment. So, for now at least, your SMS-text messages are safe from your bosses prying eyes. Is that a collective "whew" I hear?
I still stand by my original post that the updates promised for the iPhone released today as firmware "update 1.1.3 "should be given a better number, maybe a 1.2?, to mark the great features and updates. Hoaxes and teasers aside, I can't contain my giddiness - mass SMS text messages are back! That and many other neat features tracks the industry-wide trend of users being able to customize their iPhones to greater and greater lengths. Installation, via iTunes (which itself got an update) was quick - within 10 minutes I was up and running.
The changes I've noted and used so far that have made all the difference:
Google Maps qausi-GPS. Pretty cool to know where you generally are while stuck in traffic. After hitting a button a circle appears to indicate where you are generally. Kind of looks more like a targeting device for Kang and Kodos but eh, I can see how this will be pretty useful.
Customized iPhone application homepages - without a hack! Finally, I can change my icons and shove Stocks and YouTube to the second page! I never used those applications anyway and, finally, here's a way to get rid of them, well, not seeing them. That and I've added Safari icon links to this newly freed real estate to The New York Times, Facebook mobile for the iPhone, SFGate and to CNET (of course). The best part of this new feature is the seizure-inducing icon-shake when you want to change the ordering and inclusion of icons (via a drop and drag feature) on the various pages (up to 9 pages, I've read) that contain your iPhone menus - perfect for all those developer applications that are coming.
And, finally, SMS-texting en masse One of my New Year's resolutions was actually to text less and call more. Well, with 1.1.3... let's just say I probably won't be keeping that resolution. I had been finding that, because mass text messages weren't available, that I communicated with fewer people than I did with my Razr. After all, there are only so many individual text messages you can send while at a traffic light, or waiting in line at the store, it wasn't only time-consuming, but tedious. Now, you can add multiple recipients - what the maximum number of recipients are is currently unclear, but sending the message does take longer. These text messages are denoted with a little group of people icon (how cute and convenient). What's more, early polling data seems to indicate that recipients of the mass text message can't tell it's a mass text message. Responses from individuals are also segregated and not contained within the original mass text thread. Excellent.
As already noted, I'm a big proponent of the SMS text message. So much so that I was willing to pay $.50 a text sent from Australia! But on a more serious note, there was a 5.6 earthquake here in the Bay Area on Tuesday night. I was at dinner and I thought my dinner date was shaking the table or that there was a washing machine somewhere that went awry. But no, it was a bona fide earthquake. While there was no damage and it was minor, we both got text messages from our friends as soon as it happened:
"Earthquake?!"
"Did you feel that?"
And so on. I found out the next day that a lot of people had tried to call me that night, but they said my phone was off. My phone is never off. So I thought it odd. Usually the iPhone will pick up a call right away, when you're browsing, texting, and call-waiting is particularly good - a call will usually get through. No, it was only with this article that it occurred to me that the Bay Area cellphone networks were all jammed up.
The distressing thing is that there are news reports that landlines were also jammed despite being touted as being more robust in times of emergency. I seem to recall that because SMS texts are very small chunks or packets of data, they are easier to push across cell networks than calls are. This is a good thing when a lot of people are attempting to communicate, especially true for concerts, street parties, and, well, earthquakes. But, when I saw my friend try to text on his Sony cell phone last night it took him too long. Big contrast to the SMS features on the iPhone. His word find and unintelligent UI was distressing to see. What would he do in a bind?
So this month I will have traveled more than 20,000 miles via plane, train and boats to various destinations and various time zones. The iPhone has proven adept and adaptable - so long as you activate the international roaming and data plans - which you have to do in person or via AT&T's operators before you leave the country - as my friend Max found out the hard way.
Anyway, upon landing at each airport the iPhone will find the applicable AT&T network or AT&T compatible network - oftentimes in seconds. But more importantly, as you taxi after landing (make sure you have your iPhone in an accessible location), it's nice to see text messages from friends and loved ones pop up, emails and voicemails too when you turn on the iPhone or switch off the "airplane mode."
What's also interesting is people asking, "oooh, is that an iPhone?"
Once inside the terminal it's great to have the WiFi search function, or, if you're cheap like me, I'm pleasantly surprised by the speed of the EDGE network as I read the news, check emails and do all those precious things to pass the layover time.
One of the inherent risks of having an iPhone will necessarily mean that you will become a de facto sales rep for Apple.
It's not uncommon for co-workers, non-iPhone-laden friends or strangers asking to 'see' your iPhone. "See?" Is that the right word? No, perhaps play and fool around with your iPhone is a better description as you can plainly see an iPhone, but these people clearly want to touch it to believe it as the Apple ads direct them to do. It happens to me enough to make me feel like a roving iPhone sales rep. Steve Jobs should cut me a check! (Note: store credits will not suffice!)
Anyway, I typically oblige and don't mind showing people the iPhone. My first thought usually focuses around potential theft: it's not like they're going to run off with it, and if they do, I'm pretty sure I can catch them. But, my second thought I have as soon as the iPhone actually leaves my hand, is: what is exactly pulled up on my iPhone? What was that site was I just looking at? What was that last SMS text message I just got? What if that message was from that special somebody (or somebodies?) What was the last picture I just took? What was that email I just got? Not realizing what these may be, I usually quickly exclaim to people not to look at my SMS text messages and/or email. But these are the touted features of the dang thing, so usually, I'm a little more tactful about it and offer to give the would-be gawker a "guided tour" of the iPhone and its features. If I'm not lucky enough to get the iPhone back I nervously wait.
I suppose this is part and parcel to why having a passcode on your iPhone is a good idea. I've talked about this idea before and, now note, that having the passcode is a pain in the a** sometimes especially if you're listening to the iPhone's iPod and want to change songs, or rapidly respond to a SMS text message. But here, it's a little different. I doubt that you're carrying around state secrets on your iPhone (corporate data may be another matter) and here, you're not worried about your iPhone falling into the wrong hands. But what I'm talking about here is that the "enquiring minds want to know" mentality. My friends with iPhones have observed the same thing too. If we were famous, our iPhones might be a paparazzi partisan's dream. The New York Times even wrote an article about this notion in general in an article about spying spouses snooping on their significant other's computers.
All of this perhaps makes the "restore" function even more appealing. Wiping out the iPhone's memory all away may be nice because of the very public nature of a device like an iPhone containing private personal information that you might want to keep away from would-be looky-loos.
I usually get up in the mornings and go to my office and turn on my desktop CPU to check the day's news, my email, etc. But before I even turn on my desktop on a given morning, the iPhone, which sits atop my office desk, will now tell me if I have new email that has come in overnight. (Note: I have to leave my iPhone outside of my room because the GSM signal interferes with my iPod/JBL music dock's speakers, making that noise--you know that noise). Being aware that I got email overnight is nice, sure, but it sort of takes the surprise getting a new email on my main computer.
Sure, on the other hand, it could be the universe telling me NOT to turn on my main CPU in the morning. The iPhone is a shortcut, it's a timesaver for sure. I could do my emailing and browsing on the iPhone. Turning on the CPU will invariably lead me to lollygaggle in the morning as I will ended up checking this site or that, clicking on an interesting article, or buying a song from iTunes. (Question: Will Apple ever allow iTunes purchases from the iPhone?) This all causes me to leave the house later for work that I had hoped. The iPhone's gentle ping to let me know that I have email is nice and would arguably save me from having to turn on my CPU in the mornings, but I think there's still something to be said about checking email on a bigger screen (not to mention a bigger keyboard).
Speaking of screens, I've noticed lately, that the iPhone's screen doesn't quite clean as easily as before. While it remains relatively unscratched (unlike the rest of the iPhone's casing) it is harder to get my grimy fingerprints off, even with the iPhone's iRag.
On another random note: While my iPhone friends and I still await for a major update, the security update released a couple of weeks ago added a feature that I was awaiting: Namely the ability to forward an email. This basic function was previously unavailable and, like most things in life, you don't realize how important it was to you until you don't have it.
Apart from that update, the bugs in the Camera Roll I noticed earlier are still there. Other random freezes leaded to the dreaded Black Screen of Death also remain, including a bug that freaked me out this morning while commuting on San Francisco's MUNI.
Namely, I was creating a long text message only when the train stopped (I get car sick from staring at the text screen for too long, sad, I know) but, invariably, the screen will automatically shut off for powersave. If it's more than a minute, I also have to enter my passcode. Anyway, in the middle of the message, after the screen had gone dark, I tried to finish off my message and nothing worked. No touching, no fiddling with the home key, no clicks with the top switch, nothing worked. The iPhone stared at me blankly, dead and unresponsive. Of course, there was a brief moment of panic. What if the iPhone itself was completely dead. I was expecting important calls, access to music, etc. Well, as with this month I had to do a hard, 8-second reset. Much to my relief (and after 10 seconds by my count) the Apple symbol reappeared and a reboot had commenced.
But, of course, the text message was gone. D-oh!
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