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[ Bill of NO Rights ] [ The Argument for Secure Email ] [ Scoop's Search ] [ Privacy Statement ] [ SPAM Policy ]
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To Encrypt or Not To Encrypt ...It used to be that when you heard someone talking about encrypting email and files, you looked at them in wonder. What was it they were trying to hide? Did they believe they were akin to a government agency that needed ultra-privacy, or were they conducting shady dealings on the side? Perhaps it's because of the increase in identity thefts, primarily over the Internet, or perhaps it's because of people feeling vulnerable since Sept. 11, 2001, but whatever the case, privacy is becoming an issue for many people. The right to privacy goes further than your checkbook, your ID card, and your phone calls. In fact, your right to privacy extends to every area of life, including email, if you allow. That's right, your right to privacy in email extends into email, as well as your Internet usage, only if you allow it to extend that far. In fact, your right to privacy extends as far as you allow it. No matter what you do in life, whether you're the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, or the guy pushing the broom in the parking lot of the local hamburger shop, you have the right to privacy in all your affairs. You could be planning a merger with another company, or you could be seeking a new job, in another state. Perhaps, in email, you are talking about your support of the much-hated Osama bin Laden. As much as I'd like to see the guy hanging by the toes, you have the right to discuss, privately, your admiration of the jerk. Whatever you are discussing, you don't want your email or other documents, especially confidential documents, read by anyone else. Do you? As Philip Zimmerman, author of the OpenPGP message format wrote, "The right to privacy is spread implicitly throughout the Bill of Rights. But when the United States Constitution was framed, the Founding Fathers saw no need to explicitly spell out the right to a private conversation. That would have been silly. Two hundred years ago, all conversations were private. If someone else was within earshot, you could just go out behind the barn and have your conversation there. No one could listen in without your knowledge. The right to a private conversation was a natural right, not just in a philosophical sense, but in a law-of-physics sense, given the technology of the time." Zimmerman goes on to ask people to consider carefully the following questions:
I like Zimmerman's thoughts on the matter. In fact, I've long shared his views, and as a result, I've often been viewed with a skeptical eye. That's fine, because I don't like fitting into the cookie-cutter-of-the-day mold. I like to stand back, look things over, and put a challenge to things with which I don't agree, whether it be a law, a politician, a statement, or anything else. What if everyone believed that law-abiding citizens should use postcards for their mail? If a nonconformist tried to assert his privacy by using an envelope for his mail, it would draw suspicion. Perhaps the authorities would open his mail to see what he's hiding. Fortunately, we don't live in that kind of world, because everyone protects most of their mail with envelopes. So no one draws suspicion by asserting their privacy with an envelope. There's safety in numbers. Analogously, it would be nice if everyone routinely used encryption for all their email, innocent or not, so that no one drew suspicion by asserting their email privacy with encryption. Think of it as a form of solidarity. Here's a cautionary note that I am borrowing, word-for-word, from Deke Kassabian's page, which he borrowed, word-for-word, from Mark Levinson: Please keep in mind that the Web is not a secure way to distribute PGP keys. You shouldn't use my PGP key without verifying its fingerprint with me directly, unless it's been signed by someone else whose key you've already verified (and whom you trust as an introducer). Download a copy of PGP 9.x freeware to try it out for yourself. With it, you will be able to validate any electronic communications digitally-signed with a PGP-generated key and encrypt/decrypt your communications and files for privacy.
Legalese: PGP is a federally-registered trademark of the PGP Corporation.
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