Why I Wrote PGP (1999)
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Why I Wrote PGP (1999)
1–10 of 194 posts
Re: Why I Wrote PGP (1999)
#2Created 1991, updated 1999
Re: Why I Wrote PGP (1999)
#3PGP felt so subversive back in the day.
Key signing parties[1] and porting the "international" version[2] to run on the Amiga. And the very real threat that the Clipper Chip[3] would lead to the outlawing of all other encryption methods.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_signing_party
[2] https://www.unix-ag.uni-kl.de/~conrad/krypto/pgp263.features...
Re: Why I Wrote PGP (1999)
#4Created 1991, updated 1999
I think one of the best arguments for using PGP is how long it's been around and is still in use, for two reasons:
The encryption mechanisms have been tested many times by many people.
And the tooling exists for just about platform and language.
Re: Why I Wrote PGP (1999)
#5PGP felt so subversive back in the day. Key signing parties[1] and porting the "international" version[2] to run on the Amiga. And the very real threat that the Clipper Chip[3] would lead to the outlawing of all other encryption methods. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_signing_party [2] https://www.unix-ag.uni-kl.de/~conrad/krypto/pgp263.features... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipper_chip
The government thinks it still is.
Re: Why I Wrote PGP (1999)
#6Created 1991, updated 1999
I think one of the best arguments for using PGP is how long it's been around and is still in use, for two reasons: The encryption mechanisms have been tested many times by many people. And the tooling exists for just about platform and language.
The encryption mechanisms were tested, found wanting, and replaced in subsequent systems. PGP's installed base prevented them from keeping up. As a result, the constructions used in PGP today are essentially reviled by cryptography engineers.
Re: Why I Wrote PGP (1999)
#7I have sooooo many lost emails due to lost pgp configurations. Encrypted blobs in my mail spools.
Re: Why I Wrote PGP (1999)
#8[deleted]
Re: Why I Wrote PGP (1999)
#9PGP felt so subversive back in the day. Key signing parties[1] and porting the "international" version[2] to run on the Amiga. And the very real threat that the Clipper Chip[3] would lead to the outlawing of all other encryption methods. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_signing_party [2] https://www.unix-ag.uni-kl.de/~conrad/krypto/pgp263.features... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipper_chip
The sad thing is if the clipper chip was ubiquitous today that could have killed the ability for spammers to spoof numbers. Some days I can get a dozen robo calls, each with a different spoofed number. People that want non-backdoored crypto could still do so.
I'm still blown away at how hard it is to get people to use any encryption, even people who work in infosec/etc. If nothing else, 2020 was a great year for the uptick in using crypto to communicate with non-technical fam and friends.
Re: Why I Wrote PGP (1999)
#10> But while technology infrastructures can persist for generations, laws and policies can change overnight. Once a communications infrastructure optimized for surveillance becomes entrenched, a shift in political conditions may lead to abuse of this new-found power. Political conditions may shift with the election of a new government, or perhaps more abruptly from the bombing of a federal building.
Prescient.