This email will self-destruct in 5 seconds…

Self-destructing emails, available for free at One Share. It works like this:

You put in a message of any kind on their website. The data is encrypted, and stored that way on their server, so even One Share can’t read the message themselves. A special hyperlink is sent to you. When someone clicks on the hyperlink, it decodes your data, showing it to the users, and then deletes the information from their server. That way, even if someone else manages to get the link, it has already self-destructed, and they cannot access your data.

This seems really cool, and I’m sure it has some kind of application that I just can’t think of right now. Obviously it is good for sending sensitive or one-time-only emails, however, I very rarely need to send anybody on a Mission Impossible-style mission or assassination attempt, and I do not communicate with Charlie’s Angels. Therefore, I can only think of three possible uses:

1. You could put things that you don’t want to store on your computer up there, such as a list of all your passwords, and then email yourself the link. If you forget your password, you could get it from that link.
2. You could use it as a one-time FTP server, sending someone something, but ensuring that it doesn’t hang around on the public Internet for all time.
3. You could run for public office and then use it to email people pictures of your junk, without the possibility of the media intercepting it (or at least without them intercepting it without you knowing it).

Any other ways you can think of? Again, this seems cool, but I don’t know why.