You are right, this explanation of public key encryption is wrong. Maybe this stems from misunderstanding by the author, or is just the result of oversimplifica

You are right, this explanation of public key encryption is wrong. Maybe this stems from misunderstanding by the author, or is just the result of oversimplification. However, that threat of Chinese authorities sniffing on SSL traffic is real. Just remember the root certificate issued by the China Internet Network Information Center that ended up in Firefox, see http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1244444 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1244444