With VaporStream, your email will self-destruct in five seconds

Void Communications is introducing a new system, VaporStream, for sending messages that can't be archived or recorded. It plays against today's aggressive corporate email and voicemail systems where everything is kept for regulatory compliance. Sometimes, of course, you don't want your communications recorded, or potentially re-transmitted.

VaporStream is a new messaging system that lets you send ephemeral messages. Once you send a message with VaporStream, the recipient can see it and reply to it, but not print it, save it, or even copy it to the clipboard. Messages are erased from the system as soon as they're replied to. It's really more like IM than email, although messages are queued for users when they are offline.

Over-use of VaporStream could get confusing: You cannot save messages at all. But for quick dialogs of the "we never had this discussion" type, it's useful. The system costs $40 a year ($5 a year for each additional user in enterprise installations).