How To Enable Mom w/ Encrypted E-Mail?

Posted by Cliff on Friday December 30, 2005 @04:30PM from the maintaining-the-illusion dept.

mad.frog asks: "Given the recent revelations of the Bush administration spying on US citizens without warrants -- and their promise to continue doing so -- it's clearly high time for me to switch to encrypted email, after years of being too lazy to bother. The real question is how I can get all (or at least some) of my email contacts to switch as well; clearly, encryption does me no good if the recipient can't decode it. What are my options, and more importantly, what are the options that will be comprehensible and usable by my parents, and in-laws? (Keep in mind that good solutions must include robust Windows and Mac support...)"

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Re:One word by ClamIAm · 2005-12-30 20:41 · Score: 4, Interesting

If you [are worried] about your regular communications with your Mom, then you might want to ... get a life.
The issue here is not being concerned about what you might disclose in a letter home to your Mommy. The issue is that nearly anything you do can be watched. And we have nearly no oversight to make sure that US governmental agencies are conducting this surveillence in a legal and ethical manner. Also, if you write something that could sound a little strange out of context (paintball, for example), you could end up with some big hassles because you seemed a bit "suspect". Your argument is nearly as bad as the "you shouldn't have anything to hide" ones.