e-ignite: Free and Easy Email Encryption
Ok, so I've been here for quite a long time and never advertised my site. Why am I doing it now?
Not just because I'm a bit of a geek, but because I think that as the weeks drag on, privacy on the internet is becoming more and more of an issue. Several recent news stories highlight the need for email encryption - if you want to know more, please read on.
There are several sections to this (probably world-record breakingly long) advertisment for my site:
Reasons to encrypt your email, including current relevant news stories to back up my reasoning.
How to Encrypt your email, with a brief summary of the full content on my site.
And finally, a new blog section on my site so that you can all join in the discussion about current news stories.
Can you not really be bothered reading all this thread? No problem! Just click here to go straight to my site.
---------------------------
EDIT: New Section - just updated
My blog. Here, I've been posting current news stories that I think are of interest. Mainly, these are related to security and privacy, but there may be some other content. My reasoning for adding this section is that it'll be much easier for me to add links to the new stories, and I can add my opinions on the matter. I would welcome anyone to come along and join in a conversation about the stories on the blog - I've left comments open for all your questions, queries and opinions, and hopefully this will help to make the site generally more interactive.
---------------------------
Why Encrypt?
On a very basic level, you should encrypt your email because you can. When you send a personal letter through the post, you put it into an envelope. This stops casual nosy people from reading your personal letters. If you send an email, any geek who knows how could read all the emails you send since they are transmitted across the internet in plain text.
A common response to this is that you have nothing to hide. Well, neither do I, but the principle is important. You have nothing to hide when you talk to your friends on the phone, but you don't use speakerphone when you're on the bus, for example.
Here's the key point though:
Did you know that every single ISP in the European Union is legally obliged to keep records of all your emails and web traffic for up to 2 years? Don't believe me? Click here.
Did you also know that the US Government is considering a similar law?
Still not convinced? The FBI are not happy when people use encrypted VoIP phone calls (ie. Skype-to-Skype) because it makes it more difficult for them to monitor! Read the full story here.
Read more stories about why your privacy doesn't exist on the internet on this page of my site.
In the past, if the FBI or Police wanted to tap your phonecalls and intercept your mail, there was a due process. They had to apply to a court to get a warrant to do so, then work with the communication companies to get the records. This takes time (and some form of proof of suspicion), so they could only do it to people they suspected of criminal activity. Now, with technology so widely used, they can automatically monitor millions of people's private conversations every day, then go through all the emails and look for evidence of some form of criminal activity. As far as I'm concerned, this is wrong. We should not be living in a Big Brother society.
If the government have some form of evidence linking me to a specific crime and they get a warrant allowing them to read my emails, I would welcome them into my home, I would decrypt every single email I've ever sent and received and prove to them that I have absolutely nothing to hide. Until the day they get a court order allowing them to do so, however, they have no right to read my email. I hope some of you feel the same way I do.
If more people encrypt their email, Governments will need to think again, and they will hopefully stop widescale monitoring of all electronic communications and return to evidence and intelligence-based prosecutions.
---------------------------
How do I encrypt my email?
There are two very simple methods to encrypt your email. One involves downloading a certificate from a Certificate Agency (this is called S/MIME), and the other involves downloading a small piece of software and generating your own "certificate" (this is called OpenPGP or PGP encryption). This second option (my preferred encryption method) is very versatile, and you can even use the software for file encryption.
All you need to do is use a program like Mozilla Thunderbird to send and receive your encrypted and digitally signed emails. Don't worry though, this email encryption works with your current webmail accounts such as Hotmail, Gmail and even your Frihost emails!
You can also use a portable version of Thunderbird so that you can run the software from a USB stick - this way you can easily use secure communication anywhere in the world.
Ok, it may seem a little complex to set up at first, but after a few minutes to set it up, encryption really is a case of clicking one button then clicking send.
For full instructions on setting up email encryption using OpenPGP (recommended) please click here. Full downloads of all the free, open-source software you need are also available from my website!
If you would like to use S/MIME with an existing Outlook Express installation, click here.
---------------------------
Well, there's an advertisment for my website - I've included reasons I think encryption is important, and links to my site to show you how it's done. If you do decide to set up encrypted email, please feel free to test it by sending me an encrypted email, or ask me for help with anything at all related to it, just hit the "Contact" link on my website and ask away!
If you have any comments or questions in general, you can also reply to this post (or even better, join in the discussion at my new blog). Thanks for reading and if you've made it this far, you've done extremely well!
Last edited by Animal on Wed Nov 01, 2006 8:55 pm; edited 5 times in total
Ok, so I've been here for quite a long time and never advertised my site. Why am I doing it now?
Not just because I'm a bit of a geek, but because I think that as the weeks drag on, privacy on the internet is becoming more and more of an issue. Several recent news stories highlight the need for email encryption - if you want to know more, please read on.
There are several sections to this (probably world-record breakingly long) advertisment for my site:
Reasons to encrypt your email, including current relevant news stories to back up my reasoning.
How to Encrypt your email, with a brief summary of the full content on my site.
And finally, a new blog section on my site so that you can all join in the discussion about current news stories.
Can you not really be bothered reading all this thread? No problem! Just click here to go straight to my site.
---------------------------
EDIT: New Section - just updated
My blog. Here, I've been posting current news stories that I think are of interest. Mainly, these are related to security and privacy, but there may be some other content. My reasoning for adding this section is that it'll be much easier for me to add links to the new stories, and I can add my opinions on the matter. I would welcome anyone to come along and join in a conversation about the stories on the blog - I've left comments open for all your questions, queries and opinions, and hopefully this will help to make the site generally more interactive.
---------------------------
Why Encrypt?
On a very basic level, you should encrypt your email because you can. When you send a personal letter through the post, you put it into an envelope. This stops casual nosy people from reading your personal letters. If you send an email, any geek who knows how could read all the emails you send since they are transmitted across the internet in plain text.
A common response to this is that you have nothing to hide. Well, neither do I, but the principle is important. You have nothing to hide when you talk to your friends on the phone, but you don't use speakerphone when you're on the bus, for example.
Here's the key point though:
Did you know that every single ISP in the European Union is legally obliged to keep records of all your emails and web traffic for up to 2 years? Don't believe me? Click here.
Did you also know that the US Government is considering a similar law?
Still not convinced? The FBI are not happy when people use encrypted VoIP phone calls (ie. Skype-to-Skype) because it makes it more difficult for them to monitor! Read the full story here.
Read more stories about why your privacy doesn't exist on the internet on this page of my site.
In the past, if the FBI or Police wanted to tap your phonecalls and intercept your mail, there was a due process. They had to apply to a court to get a warrant to do so, then work with the communication companies to get the records. This takes time (and some form of proof of suspicion), so they could only do it to people they suspected of criminal activity. Now, with technology so widely used, they can automatically monitor millions of people's private conversations every day, then go through all the emails and look for evidence of some form of criminal activity. As far as I'm concerned, this is wrong. We should not be living in a Big Brother society.
If the government have some form of evidence linking me to a specific crime and they get a warrant allowing them to read my emails, I would welcome them into my home, I would decrypt every single email I've ever sent and received and prove to them that I have absolutely nothing to hide. Until the day they get a court order allowing them to do so, however, they have no right to read my email. I hope some of you feel the same way I do.
If more people encrypt their email, Governments will need to think again, and they will hopefully stop widescale monitoring of all electronic communications and return to evidence and intelligence-based prosecutions.
---------------------------
How do I encrypt my email?
There are two very simple methods to encrypt your email. One involves downloading a certificate from a Certificate Agency (this is called S/MIME), and the other involves downloading a small piece of software and generating your own "certificate" (this is called OpenPGP or PGP encryption). This second option (my preferred encryption method) is very versatile, and you can even use the software for file encryption.
All you need to do is use a program like Mozilla Thunderbird to send and receive your encrypted and digitally signed emails. Don't worry though, this email encryption works with your current webmail accounts such as Hotmail, Gmail and even your Frihost emails!
You can also use a portable version of Thunderbird so that you can run the software from a USB stick - this way you can easily use secure communication anywhere in the world.
Ok, it may seem a little complex to set up at first, but after a few minutes to set it up, encryption really is a case of clicking one button then clicking send.
For full instructions on setting up email encryption using OpenPGP (recommended) please click here. Full downloads of all the free, open-source software you need are also available from my website!
If you would like to use S/MIME with an existing Outlook Express installation, click here.
---------------------------
Well, there's an advertisment for my website - I've included reasons I think encryption is important, and links to my site to show you how it's done. If you do decide to set up encrypted email, please feel free to test it by sending me an encrypted email, or ask me for help with anything at all related to it, just hit the "Contact" link on my website and ask away!
If you have any comments or questions in general, you can also reply to this post (or even better, join in the discussion at my new blog). Thanks for reading and if you've made it this far, you've done extremely well!
Last edited by Animal on Wed Nov 01, 2006 8:55 pm; edited 5 times in total
) but I actually quite like the plain old theme. What plugins do you suggest? Bear in mind I only started using Wordpress about 2 days ago!
