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> I am pretty sure 99% of people would halt at 'gpg' Please do not mock gpg. I have been using gpg for 25 years now (and PGP before that). It works. It encryp

by jwr 2y ago

> I am pretty sure 99% of people would halt at 'gpg' Please do not mock gpg. I have been using gpg for 25 years now (and PGP before that). It works. It encrypts. It decrypts. It is in vogue to mock gpg on HN and recommend more modern solutions. As an experiment, I tried adding one of those modern tools (rage) to my ansible configurations, just so that they get regularly installed and maintained on my servers (without actually being used). The setup broke within less a year. Are the modern tools more cryptographically secure? Undoubtedly. Does it matter in practice for me? Not at all. Longevity is a big deal and is under-appreciated.

nixgeek 2y ago
It’s not mockery though? It’s certainly true 99% of even the technically literate don’t use GnuPG (many because, like me, they cannot stand the GnuPG user experience). Filippo nailed it with this piece: https://words.filippo.io/giving-up-on-long-term-pgp/ https://words.filippo.io/giving-up-on-long-term-pgp/
tharkun__ 2y ago
Not their point tho. Me too, gpg, no problem. Heck I had the "'smuggled' out of the country as a book" pgp back when. My kids? I really am not so sure at all. Still too early to tell for sure but so far I don't think any will be as technically savvy as I am. I really doubt they'd know what GPG (or PGP) are and how to use it.
- guelo 2y ago
  Presumably if you're leaving your kids an encrypted file with valuable stuff in it they won't be so illiterate that they can't figure out how to open it. Most people don't know gpg because they have no motivation to learn it not because they're incapable of learning it.
  - trw55 2y ago
    No motivation, sure. But do they even care? Most people just don't care about this stuff. You try to get them to care and they "say, yeah, okay, yeah, I know" as they roll their eyes and go back to scrolling Instagram or whatever. The apathy is real and I don't see it getting better.

by jwr 2y ago

nixgeek 2y ago

It’s not mockery though? It’s certainly true 99% of even the technically literate don’t use GnuPG (many because, like me, they cannot stand the GnuPG user experience). Filippo nailed it with this piece: https://words.filippo.io/giving-up-on-long-term-pgp/ https://words.filippo.io/giving-up-on-long-term-pgp/

tharkun__ 2y ago

Not their point tho. Me too, gpg, no problem. Heck I had the "'smuggled' out of the country as a book" pgp back when. My kids? I really am not so sure at all. Still too early to tell for sure but so far I don't think any will be as technically savvy as I am. I really doubt they'd know what GPG (or PGP) are and how to use it.

guelo 2y ago
Presumably if you're leaving your kids an encrypted file with valuable stuff in it they won't be so illiterate that they can't figure out how to open it. Most people don't know gpg because they have no motivation to learn it not because they're incapable of learning it.
- trw55 2y ago
  No motivation, sure. But do they even care? Most people just don't care about this stuff. You try to get them to care and they "say, yeah, okay, yeah, I know" as they roll their eyes and go back to scrolling Instagram or whatever. The apathy is real and I don't see it getting better.