Released: October 06, 2006

Instant messages, lingering paper trail

Source: By Mike Musgrove, Washington Post (Free Registration)

People who think their instant messages disappear after being sent should think again. As the recent scandals involving former Republican congressman Mark Foley and Hewlett-Packard Co. have brought to light, text messages sent in real time via computer can be saved and retrieved.

Instant messaging has been growing in popularity, with nearly 79 million users of instant-messaging programs in the United States during August, according to research firm Nielsen-NetRatings. The most popular instant-message programs are from AOL, Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. and can be used on computers and mobile gadgets such as cellphones and BlackBerrys.

Many people who take advantage of these free software services believe their conversations can’t be tracked, but that’s a misconception, said Michael Hall, managing editor of the Web site Instant Messaging Planet.

“Even the most basic instant-messaging software will keep some sort of archive,” he said.

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