Readers of this forum should be aware of the significant security differences between these forms of communication.
1) Text Messaging (SMS) - Text messages are almost always sent without encryption (i.e. in "clear text" that anyone can read), are typically stored for some period of time by the service providers ("forever" is a safe assumption), and can be provided to LE upon request. (They can also be read and stored be intermediaries during transmission, though this is probably of lesser concern for this community. You can probably assume that all text messages sent in the US are stashed away in some federal government data farm). If the addresses of the sender and recipient can be tied to specific persons then there is clearly a LE liability. Since nearly all text messages are sent by cell phones and cell phones always give up location information to the carriers, it's not as difficult for LE to tie 'prepaid' phones to individuals as you might think.) It is my understanding that LE generally doesn't require court approval to access SMS information from the carrier - they just nee to ask for it -- and carriers are pretty cooperative with such requests (in the US).
2) Email (SMTP) - Email has nearly all the security risks as SMS, though it is easier to send encrypted email and there are plenty of email service providers that make it easy for even the least technically savvy sender to use. (If I'm considering different providers, I'll almost always prefer the one that uses encrypted email -- if they have a hushmail account , for example -- over the one that doesn't.)
It is easier to set up an "anonymous" email account but it requires discipline and some savvy to not leak information which allows LE to tie using the account to you. Be aware that some email service providers (i.e. gmail) basically store your email forever and "mine" it's contents as part of their "service". That could be problematic for users in this community. (I avoid providers that use gmail.)
As with SMS, it is my understanding that LE doesn't require court approval to access email information from the carrier - they only need to ask -- but email service providers tend to be less cooperative to request that don't come from a court. This area of law has been getting a lot of attention lately and may well change in the not too distant future (in the US).
3) Phone (standard and cellular telephony) - While it's certainly possible to intercept and record phone calls -- it is the exception, not the rule (NSA tomfoolery aside) and the legal hurdles are in place for LE (in the US). As a result, the information readily available to LE is the so-called "metadata" that has been so much in the news lately. So, the content of a phone call is likely more secure than the content of SMS or (unencrypted) email (encryption in consumer-grade phones is nonexistent).
Beware of leaving "voicemail" -- that makes the message behave more like an email (in some cases, exactly like).
There is also more modern telephony (VOIP -- like "Skype", "SIP phones", etc.) but this don't seem to play a part in this community.
Posted By: Riley007
I see that most girls hate text messages and many don't have an email address listed in their ads. I sort of get mot listing prices, but this just makes it harder to decide who to call if you don't have all the info you need to book and appointment.
I can't be the only guy that has enough privacy to email or text, but a private phone discussion is harder to set up. Almost everyone has a smart phone and there are tons of free email sites that will let you set up a separate email address for just about anything.
So why don't more girls use email?