On Thu 05 Dec 2019 at 18:18:55 +0000, Joe wrote: > On Thu, 5 Dec 2019 09:14:31 -0000 (UTC) > Curt <cu...@free.fr> wrote: > > > On 2019-12-05, ghe <g...@slsware.net> wrote: > > > > > > I found out about it in an article on Internet security/privacy on > > > the New York Times -- it's safe for mortals. > > > > > > OTOH, I haven't been able to get anyone around here to switch from > > > GMail... > > > > What the aging hoi polloi might not be able to grasp is why, after > > many decades and even centuries of communication using diverse media > > (notably postal and telephone services) without encryption for the > > masses (i.e. for those who are neither spies nor wise guys nor > > soldiers engaged in battle et. al.), it has now somehow become a > > crucial need. > > Because only in the last decade or so has it been possible for a > government or company to read and listen to every single word of > correspondence of every single person in their country, without any > judicial oversight or probable cause. If it had been possible earlier > than that, it would have been done.
I'd question "company" linked with "country". But we will let that pass. Individuals who wish to encrypt correspondence between correspondents are free to so (given the laws of the counties they live in) and are entitled to do so. Most email is on the banal level and hectoring users does little good. Saying it is "crucial" (commercial enterprises apart) falls on deaf ears. On a side note: if James Joyce's love letters to Nora Barnacle had been encrypted, how much of a loss would that have been to humanity? Swings and roundabouts. Open communication in all but the most obvious cases is crucial to humankind. -- Brian.
