What if one of your core communications pathways were suddenly yanked? Would you have options? This past week, I was following a discussion between the I.T. guy for our org (May God bless his name — and his wife and kids; thank you Greg) and one of our field workers in a sensitive land. Our I.T. guy was discussing “redudant mediums.” Now at first, I thought maybe they were talking about extra mind-readers, but very shortly, I realized Greg was actually recommending having communications options in case the bottom fell out of one pathway. For example, he recommended one pathway for an “alert” level message, and another pathway for the ‘main’ message. He gave several options, breaking down the security of each:
iMessage – Relatively high security for content (Apple potentially can read), Only Apple products, Only 9 participants in a group, medium metadata security to keep from linking people together, high traceback since everyone gets everything, difficult to see a summary, based on running conversation of IM style, high reliability of receipt with read notices
Skype – Medium to low security for content (MS can definitely read content, may give access to others), Wide availability of devices, high number of participants in a group, metadata security is expected to be low, high traceback since everyone gets everything, difficult to see a summary, based on running conversation of IM style, relatively high reliability of receipt
VSee – Pretty similar to Skype, with a touch higher security, since it only uses servers to establish contact, then goes device to device.
Threema – High security for content (encrypted inside app), Threema is only on mobile devices, IM platform, high metadata security, IM traceback, high reliability of receipt. Threema is here:
E-Mail – High to Low content security, high availability, high number of participants in a group, metadata security can be all over the board, high traceback, low conversation mode, summary reports are relatively easy
Hushmail – Relatively high content security, mobile can be tricky, high number of group participants, metadata security is fairly high, high traceback since everyone gets everything, low conversation mode, summary reports are relatively easy
Phone calls – Low security for content, Only phones, low participant group size, no metadata security, no traceback, summary consistency is difficult, high receipt reliability
One of my take-aways from all of this discussion was to make sure our workers have options. A laptop for email, Skype and VSee, a phone for texts and Skype, and in some cases in which the situation is particularly volatile, a third channel such as a satellite beacon (like the “Spot Messenger” service). As a result of all the above, if you’re a local church or agency, why not do an assessment of your workers’ options? If you’re a worker, maybe put a Spot Messenger on your Christmas list? : )
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