Text messages do not have to live forever thanks to TigerText. Last week the TigerText hit the App Store in full swing. For those who do not want to end up like our favourite notorious golfer extraordinaire, whose alleged racy text messages was how his wife busted him for his numerous affairs, and can be found all over the internet....well there's an app for that!
Without social media, the Tiger Woods scandal would be over by now but thanks to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace ect. information is leaked daily and is accessible to everyone, including his text messages..until now...
The TigerText slogan is "cover your tracks" and has been reportedly discussed by TIME as "stupidity insurance". "People text like they talk," says TigerText app creator, Jeffery Evans, "And some of the things they say, taken out of context, can come back to haunt them."
Evans claims that the app was created more than a year ago, before the drama's of Tiger and Elin even existed, however the name of the app was most likely a custom fit after Woods unfaithful text messages exposed him to the world. Ironically, the TigerText app wouldn't have saved Tiger since he has a Blackberry!
The TigerText is a free app and is compatible with all iPhones as well as with any iPod touch. Sending text messages with this app is unique for many reasons. Messages cannot be forwarded or copied and have expiry dates. Messages are deleted from both users phones, eliminating any proof that they ever existed. In fact messages that are sent through the TigerText app are never actually sent to receivers phones, rather they are saved to TigerText servers. A TigerText sender may choose how long they want their message to last, before it is destroyed forever. Sender's can also "delete on read" setting, which gives recipients a 60 seconds to read the message upon opening the message before it vanishes. There is also a "delete history" button that eliminates any given phone call history that you don't want anyone to see (or press redial).
Tiger Text demo from Jason Evans on Vimeo.
Text messages have become a huge part of our lives and it is important to consider that all age demographics send and receive text messages (including criminals, teens sending inappropriate sext messages). However TigerText creator, Evans raises a good point as he explains that the reason for his creation is to protect users from not only being caught, but from basic privacy rights. In 2006 the European Union ruled that cell phone and internet providers must keep email and cell phone data (includes text messages) for a certain period of time. Even if you have nothing to hide, isn't this an invasion of privacy?
MORAL OR PRIVACY ISSUE?
I think that the TigerText app is a moral issue since it is advertised as a way of avoiding all forms of accountability, but realistically how would you feel if all of your text messages went viral, even though you may not have anything to hide? Or how would you feel if every private message you texted, or email you sent, was stored in someone's database somewhere, accessible for anyone to read?
Since this app came out a couple months ago Tiger returned to golf at the Masters...and nonetheless a new NIKE commercial was released. The commercial went viral online instantly (obviously).
Without social media, the Tiger Woods scandal would be over by now..as I mentioned earlier. Thanks to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace ect. information is leaked daily and is accessible to everyone, including this commercial, where Tiger uses his late father's voiceover to try to explain himself...Do you think this commercial will help make, or help further break Tiger's career?
