Reset the Internet!

[GreyGeek]

[dequire]

Hope this catches on.

[GreyGeek]

I began encrypting all my emails several months ago. I always encrypt and zip all documents that I send to others which I want to keep private.
The real question is "Does the NSA/CIA/whatagency now possess a quantum computer?"
I suspect that if they do, then so do the Russians and Chinese, who are no slouches in such technology. Even a 4096 byte key wouldn't be of much use. (But, there appears to be a wave of anti-D-Wave propaganda designed to discredit it. Is that so people would just ignore previous successes and assume that quantum computers are still in the future when, in fact, they are now available?)

[Feathers McGraw]

GG, you're lucky that the people you send emails to have a publickey and know what to do with it! I'm not sure what it would take for email encryption to become truly mainstream, my guess is that the first step is a company like Google doing it all automatically for you.

This would be far from prefect, but I think the uncomfortable truth is that most people don't care enough to do it themselves, but would see automatic Google key management as better than nothing. If you use Gmail then Google is capable of reading your email anyway if they want to... this would at least prevent third parties from reading it in transit.

[SteveRiley]

Unless it's a Google-authorized third party. And I'd bet there's a sort-of secret list of such.

[Feathers McGraw]

Yeah, I wouldn't fall off my chair either.

[GreyGeek]

Understand that like most people, most of my email is trivial and I only use encryption signing on it with KMail so that nothing I write can be modified in any way. For private stuff, which I want to remain private, I encrypt it and zip it with a password, then send it as an attachment.

[TWPonKubuntu]

...my guess is that the first step is a company like Google doing it all automatically for you...

Now that is a truly scary thought...
TRUST US, WE CARE...

[Feathers McGraw]

The thing is, I don't think you'd be in a worse position using gmail & Google managing your keys than you are just using gmail, unless you want to make a "false sense of security" argument

[SteveRiley]

If someone else has access to your private key, it is (duh) no longer private. This eliminates one important property of public/private encryption and signatures: nonrepudiation.

[Feathers McGraw]

Yeah good point, I hadn't been thinking about it from that angle.

[SteveRiley]

Most 24-year-olds don't.

BA-DUM CRASH! lololololol

[Feathers McGraw]

I'm still 23...

[SteveRiley]

I, uh, was making a prediction. Yeah that's it. :-P