bedroom: encryption thoughts

One puts one's mail in an envelope, not on the back of a post-card; email should be no different. PGP offers "encryption for the masses". Because of the nature of one-way hashes and public/private key cryptography, one can be assured that an encrypted mail will be read only by its recipient, in much the same way as a piece of snail-mail will only be read by its addressee.

If you want to encrypt a file for me, my public key is:

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: 5.0
Comment: PGP Key Server 0.9.4+patch2

mQCNAzvgEasAAAEEAMPEoM2MwKNq3t0iD4ha/CdcnvSfYOFQkelIrRJW+1Qdya97
QIshwwGbRO8djBSgVLABKaBEiusfIhFMJh7nnskhGnO3QzCsgGV/p3vayXpqPgnB
jR7sTbIUswCS93PDLJAg9o5rj3+/mqSHXlCrrJgWy7knTDvs39tn1vy0PCrRAAUR
tB9Sb3NlbWFyeSBCcmF1biA8YnJhdW5AdWl1Yy5lZHU+
=3QgF
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

You can also read PGP author Philip Zimmermann's essay on why he developed PGP. If you are concerned about the preservation of your privacy rights and other civil liberties, a good starting point is the ACLU website.

When using envelopes is the norm, using one is not seen as suspicious. Protect your right to privacy through practice.