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'Merry Christmas' - First SMS Ever Sent Sells for US$121,000

Charlotte Henry · · Add Comment

The first SMS ever sent sold for €107,000 euros (US$121,000) as an NFT at an auction in Paris on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The message says “Merry Christmas” and was sent on December 3, 1992, by an engineer at UK carrier Vodafone.

Vodafone engineer Neil Papworth sent the SMS from his computer to a manager in the United Kingdom, who received it on his 2-kg (4 lb) “Orbitel” telephone – similar to a desk phone but cordless and with a handle. “They were in the middle of end-of-year events so he sent him the message ‘Merry Christmas’,” said Maximilien Aguttes, head of development for the Aguttes Auction House…The selling of intangible goods is not legal in France and so the auction house has packaged the text message in a digital frame, displaying the code and communication protocol, Aguttes said.

[Image credt: Agutess]

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Oops! Twitter Accidentally Used Your Phone Number for Ads

Andrew Orr · · Add Comment

Twitter admitted yesterday that it “unintentionally” used some email addresses and phone numbers for advertising purposes. These phone numbers were specifically used to keep your account safe with two-factor authentication.

We recently discovered that when you provided an email address or phone number for safety or security purposes (for example, two-factor authentication) this data may have inadvertently been used for advertising purposes, specifically in our Tailored Audiences and Partner Audiences advertising system.

This is exactly why SMS-based two-factor authentication needs to go away. SMS is inherently insecure, as the FBI recently noted. Funnily enough, I recently removed my phone number from Twitter, although it’s probably too late.