A free service started by two Harvard Law School students that allows users to unsend and edit emails after they’ve been sent is apparently shutting down. The service, Pluto Mail, allows users to unsend emails after they’ve been sent, edit emails after they’ve been sent, set auto-expiration dates that make the text of an email disappear, and track when emails are opened.

See my April 24, 2014 post: Unsend Email? Two Harvard Law Students Have a Way.

I received an email just before midnight last night saying that Pluto Mail is shutting down. It said:

Dear Pluto User,

Pluto is unfortunately shutting down. The website will remain up for at least a month but very shortly (as early as tomorrow) you will be unable to send new Pluto emails. At time of shutdown all emails will be deleted to protect your privacy.

The entire Pluto Mail team appreciates your support during this journey. We remain committed to increasing online privacy and look forward to working on the issue in the future.

Sincerely,
Pluto Mail Team

The two founders of Pluto Mail were both Harvard Law students with backgrounds in technology, according to a 2014 profile in The Harvard Crimson. David Gobaud is a 2010 Stanford computer science graduate who worked for Google and in the White House before going to law school. Lindsay Lin has a 2012 mathematics degree from the University of Virginia and has been creating websites since grade school.

The LinkedIn profiles for Gobaud and Lin show that they both graduated from Harvard Law this year. Lin’s says that she stopped working at Pluto a year ago.

Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.