A primer on encryption.

As anybody who has received email from me knows, I use GPG. Here's a quick primer on encryption..

Encryption is good thing. The more of us who use it, the harder it is on those people who wish to eavesdrop on our private conversations.

Here's my public key, in case you're interested:

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: OpenKeyServer v1.2 mQGiBD0wsgIRBADWon+WFFUm42zvKtk7bTU/VeiwQkjjVmwxl3r2ZGBXt1ImJzfl 0GqK3axpDUo0s+QuJAw6RjXkL6RCpv/JT9CbewXydQxO+q7e/n+Ph7iCy9aIcuV9 TB6sqs0UkBfCtMTszdb6/vSBe7G8w754iDq6InvhvKkcZLcMBkAapvTfGwCgnrLM 9GkKzpTGk1KeXHCRqdOrrEcEAJL1MAfYwptTkKR3V/PEcZHugQIDNc4yQ4KDctY0 UeFpljfXljnxir9wRRgQNlPgNK38u3wBbEdDji9H5FR4sozIoSGFQseqhAbCpQ5c CVtl7gGkSB6glohGt6bp515CnHIhOluSbb65FQSYh1HDgbbtT9ZwWpNcNUmpzobN S+E9BAC/ISuhHD5ryCi/N0tO6P3Z3oAW9C9vi4VSNbB8Pm85T49Z0aw8JlS5Ywx6 9PZsrx1MfpqD0KnBdfaQJwxDohLWjyPuj2x/zABTGksGR3R1hxFZF9HB9j1Khh/4 tDuZvKI4g4HYjR85webF3FSA/Ug7vVw8LRzjgYqxDZwLPZFkHbQ3VGhvbWFzIEcu IE1jVmVpZ2ggKGFrYSBtMG5reW1hbikgPHRob21AYXB0ZW5vYnl0ZXMubmV0PohZ BBMRAgAZBQI9MLICBAsHAwIDFQIDAxYCAQIeAQIXgAAKCRBbkNqYqrinSgYgAJ9i 66+ZOjNg+vKK4Ijfw7mb8bs0zwCgj93w3t+UmUb4xcLye51X95B9nyK5AQ0EPTCy EhAEAIb/3gTqNoEqhOcAkBIbD2X9zhHRYIDk6Q6T0ZvRBRC4GQz1YD9b340j40Xp 2IanBl3LjoAV2qiXoy4c22Ks2vcaMBQKZIZ48xVPbafTsaYVmG5QXusxkeMSHcsF UhlptfW6C3TSkV/XHT93odp3pG+KokyBWWmr2OvUp2fORtjrAAMFA/9Mzu6mrN2A Is9OxSajT0xpNJuDNQ74F2XTPVL/vw+/gB6oMvQ5gqKmixe6hhR4TM7UJS9Ub3QL ETLcGnmclBcU/bC2JGcWuWm9bYH8LJKrSglpiEgh/ax9WRDFl5mfuAxj+VEkjbF0 ujvcmniBo3jEd+udSsIktjwQKWJwx7riSYhGBBgRAgAGBQI9MLISAAoJEFuQ2piq uKdK3hUAn3YSAmjAIBmhPcYFNW4Ao1wk3L3PAJ9chzVFfPw4KbAYG1M/SLdyK1Vp fg== =6nrF -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

Comments

[Rad Geek]

Well, thanks for taking the time to spread the good word on PGP/GPG encryption. It's good stuff--and could be a really revolutionary technology if a critical mass of people started using it.

The question is, how? What can we do to promote the idea, and to explain it in terms everyone can get? What can we do to reduce the work involved in getting and using GPG, and to give people a good reason to bother with it?

Enigmail is a good example of a big step in the right direction that I love to death, but of course most people don't use Thunderbird in the first place. I don't know. What do you think?

[m0nkyman]

One basic thing to do is to always sign your email with your PGP/GPG key. As a Mac user, I tend to use MacGPG ( http://macgpg.sourceforge.net/) which has a plugin for Mail.app.

The way I tend to explain it is that it's a tool to do two very different things. First it's a way of signing your name to something, and you can prove that what you said is what you said. If it gets changed, the math will say that it has been changed.

The other more important thing it does, is change your email from a postcard to a sealed envelope that only the person you want to open it can open it.

What has to happen is that gpg get installed by default with most email clients, and generation of a gpg key be part of the setup of said clients. I've suggested this to Apple by email, and it should be pushed to the Evolution/mozilla/Thunderbird/Eudora crews as well. Microsoft is, I'm assuming, a lost cause.