My public key for PGP encryption

In case you didn't know, email is the electronic equivalent of a traditional "snail mail" postcard.

No envelope, readable by anyone who happens to be between you and your recipient.
Not the sort of way you'd want to send delicate information. For those with "conspiracy theory" mindsets and other Orwellian fears, having email so open is scary.

There are a lot of ways to protect the privacy of your message; PGP (pretty good privacy) encryption is easy, and FREE.

It is not within the confines of this post to explain PGP and how it works, but, a Reader's Digest condensed version would be:

You have a private key, and a public key. Your public key is shared with anyone who wants to send you an encrypted message.

When you receive an encrypted message, your private key decrypts it.

Of course, you have to find a way to get your public key into the hands of anyone who is going to send you an encrypted message, and you have to have the public key of anyone to whom you are going to send an encrypted message, but once that's done, you're ready to begin.

What does an encrypted message look like?

Well, the post you've read so far would look like this if I sent it in an encrypted email...


-----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (MingW32) - WinPT 1.2.0
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=LMqc
-----END PGP MESSAGE-----



Now, you'll need software to generate the private & public keys, and to encrypt and decrypt the messages. You can download a free, easy to use program for Windows at

http://www.gpg4win.org/


If you are comfortable with the command line interface, you can learn more here

http://www.gnupg.org/



I realize I'll probably NEVER receive an encrypted message from anyone, but, JUST IN CASE, here is my public key...



pub 1024D/7C1ED339 7/6/2009 Christopher Cho
Primary key fingerprint: 7217 33ED 1BC0 BC2D 8339 E741 0559 FFF2 7C1E D339

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (MingW32) - WinPT 1.2.0
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=gsIg
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----




Feel free to send me a message, and include your public key so I can return a nice private message as well.