An encrypted message to Edward Snowden
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Re: An encrypted message to Edward Snowden
#2From http://www.gnupg.org/gph/en/manual/x110.html
"A public and private key each have a specific role when encrypting and decrypting documents. A public key may be thought of as an open safe. When a correspondent encrypts a document using a public key, that document is put in the safe, the safe shut, and the combination lock spun several times. The corresponding private key is the combination that can reopen the safe and retrieve the document. In other words, only the person who holds the private key can recover a document encrypted using the associated public key."
Re: An encrypted message to Edward Snowden
#3I don't get it, unless Snowden's published his public key somewhere and Wired has some really, really important information for him?
Re: An encrypted message to Edward Snowden
#4I don't get it, unless Snowden's published his public key somewhere and Wired has some really, really important information for him?
More likely that it's a publicity stunt, raising awareness of strong encryption that the NSA (probably) can't crack yet.
Re: An encrypted message to Edward Snowden
#5From http://www.gnupg.org/gph/en/manual/x110.html "A public and private key each have a specific role when encrypting and decrypting documents. A public key may be thought of as an open safe. When a correspondent encrypts a document using a public key, that document is put in the safe, the safe shut, and the combination lock spun several times. The corresponding private key is the combination that can reopen the safe…
In a world where the US government is scanning all your electronic communications, and (we'll next discover) searching your OS X- and Windows-based computers at will, how do you, as a practical matter, keep your private key "private"?
Re: An encrypted message to Edward Snowden
#6Let's see, carry the N, divide by P and "Be sure to drink your Ovaltine"
Re: An encrypted message to Edward Snowden
#7I don't get it, unless Snowden's published his public key somewhere and Wired has some really, really important information for him?
More likely that it's a publicity stunt, raising awareness of strong encryption that the NSA (probably) can't crack yet.
yeah, I was wondering about how strong GPG was. Back in the day, i.e. the 90's, the assumption was it would take years for then-current NSA supercomputers to factor the keys. Nowadays, with all sorts of new attacks, analyses, and cheap as hell compute time, I would wager that time requirement has gone significantly down.
Re: An encrypted message to Edward Snowden
#8From http://www.gnupg.org/gph/en/manual/x110.html "A public and private key each have a specific role when encrypting and decrypting documents. A public key may be thought of as an open safe. When a correspondent encrypts a document using a public key, that document is put in the safe, the safe shut, and the combination lock spun several times. The corresponding private key is the combination that can reopen the safe…
In a world where the US government is scanning all your electronic communications, and (we'll next discover) searching your OS X- and Windows-based computers at will, how do you, as a practical matter, keep your private key "private"?
Obviously, hide it in the "garbage file". Even Angelina Jolie knows this!
Re: An encrypted message to Edward Snowden
#9I don't get it, unless Snowden's published his public key somewhere and Wired has some really, really important information for him?
More likely that it's a publicity stunt, raising awareness of strong encryption that the NSA (probably) can't crack yet.
Hm, unfortunate that those who know what it is will recognize it and not think that and the rest will be confused and close the tab and move on. And the comments (on the Wired article) aren't remotely helpful.
Re: An encrypted message to Edward Snowden
#10From http://www.gnupg.org/gph/en/manual/x110.html "A public and private key each have a specific role when encrypting and decrypting documents. A public key may be thought of as an open safe. When a correspondent encrypts a document using a public key, that document is put in the safe, the safe shut, and the combination lock spun several times. The corresponding private key is the combination that can reopen the safe…
In a world where the US government is scanning all your electronic communications, and (we'll next discover) searching your OS X- and Windows-based computers at will, how do you, as a practical matter, keep your private key "private"?
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