OpenPGP, Privacy and You:

I’ve been involved in the electronic privacy movement since 1992. Recently I told a friend, “I liked the world a lot more when I was considered paranoid, as opposed to pro–active.”

Eight years ago this page said “if you send me email, assume it will be read in transit.” People thought I was paranoid — I wondered if maybe I was — nowadays it seems like plain common sense.

That said, common sense is something we sometimes need to be reminded about. So once more, if you send me email, assume it will be read in transit. If you’re sending me something you wouldn’t mind seeing printed in the New York Times, then send away. If you’re sending something more private than that, you will need to take steps to ensure your privacy.

s/mime

If you use s/mime, feel free to ask me for my certificate.

OpenPGP

pgp is the leading email encryption software for OS X and Windows. It implements most of the OpenPGP standard and is largely interoperable with the gnu Privacy Guard.

The gnu Privacy Guard is another piece of encryption software. It lacks a neat gui, which makes it harder for newbies to learn, but it’s still quite worthwhile. I find that it implements more of the OpenPGP standard than PGP Corporation’s offering, has better support, and you can’t beat the software license.

Finally, if you’re new to email encryption, feel free to join the PGP–Basics mailing list over at Yahoo! Groups. It’s a friendly, comfortable place to ask questions (even “stupid” ones) and get straightforward answers.

If you’re looking for my key, you can find it on the usual keyservers. 0x1E7A94D4E87F91D5. It can also be found on this site using Web Key Discovery (WKD).

Email me.