This message will self-destruct in 5, 4, 3… OK, so exploding notes are still the preserve of spy films, but researchers have now developed a way for computer documents to erase themselves.

- Computer scientists from the University of Washington have created a system called Vanish, which lets users create documents, e-mails or blog posts that have a limited lifespan. After a given time, the text becomes permanently unreadable – even to the person who wrote it.

- Roxana Geambasu, the project’s lead scientist, told Wired.co.uk: “After it expires, nobody – not the user, Google, Facebook, a hacker, not even someone with a warrant – can read that web content.”

- Until now, it has been nearly impossible to erase your past online: photos that first appeared on Facebook can reappear in the hands of job interviewers, old tweets can be viewed by anyone. This software will give people the chance to wipe the slate clean – on the net, anyway. MURAD AHMED

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