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Despite "the emerging consensus among experts", I'm still happy using OpenPGP-encrypted emails (with mutt) with several of my friends and colleagues for various
by a3_nm 10y ago
Despite "the emerging consensus among experts", I'm still happy using OpenPGP-encrypted emails (with mutt) with several of my friends and colleagues for various purposes. Of course the UX of GnuPG is terrible. Of course the security is not bullet-proof. Of course it's not for everyone. Yet I think it is a reasonable way to afford very strong security when we communicate, and it is extremely useful to us.
I don't think recent IM apps are a suitable alternative. Essentially all of these apps have young and unaudited code (assuming they are open source, which some aren't), and they are designed to run on phones with Google Play Services installed (i.e., a proprietary Google blob with complete access to the system), along with untrusted proprietary radio firmware from the phone manufacturer, all on a device with direct access to an untrusted cellular network. (Oh, and there is the issue that many things are inconvenient to do on phones, e.g., writing long emails. This wouldn't matter if these apps weren't essentially imposing a specific user interface on me, the way GnuPG doesn't. Oh, and many of these apps require a phone number, account creation on a specific provider, that I don't need for email, and that people can legitimately object to.)
By contrast GnuPG is ancient and well-tested code, running on computers, which mostly use free software, and which I trust much more than I trust my phone. I can do meaningful things on these computers, like writing long emails, coding, preparing confidential documents, that I essentially cannot do with a phone plus IM software.
Encrypted email has lots of drawbacks, sure, but it doesn't look to me like it is over. There are still lots of use cases for which there are no alternatives. And it's not because something isn't being used by everyone, or is less popular than other solutions, that it is not useful for some people, or that it won't last.