email privacy

[stas]

The federal government will continue to access Americans’ emails without a warrant, after the U.S. Senate dropped a key amendment to legislation now headed to the White House for approval. Currently, the government can collect emails and other cloud data without a warrant as long as the content has been stored on a third-party server for 180 days or more. Federal agents need only demonstrate that they have “reasonable grounds to believe” the information would be useful in an investigation.

Печальная картина. А виноват, конечно, как всегда, Буш.

Comments

[glocka.livejournal.com]

Overview is here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy)

Theoretically, one would need to download and verify source code, then compile it.
Practically, one downloads signed setup file, and verifies digital signature.

[eta-ta.livejournal.com]

and how the recipient can read it? doesn't he need to de-encrypt it , so to speak?
in any case, they are right: it sounds too complicated for a layman (me, f.i.)

[glocka.livejournal.com]

Аfter initial setup encryption/decryption happens on the fly, no effort needed. But yes, software has to be installed on computers of all participants.
Less convenient way but requiring no special software is to send encrypted attachments, say zip or Word documents. In anticipation, some free email providers already prohibit this.