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Does anyone around here use a PGP Public Key?

Do you find it useful?

I find it pretty neat. It's a bit of an alternative to paying Verisign a bunch of money to get a certificate.
I like the fact that you can encrypt messages and allow them to be decrypted only by users you specify. The huse directory of PGP keys is neat too.

Thoughts?

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Isn't using PGP illegal?

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That might depend on where you live. PGP has long and colourful history, it was first exported from the US as a book containing nothing but the sourcecode (for scanning) as some law forbidding export of such things somehow didn't include books. I'm not sure how the current law in the US is (its bloody weird, I'm happy not to be American...) but I would say, in most countries you should be able to use as strong encryption as you want (European countries etc...). And PGP DOES provide that! 4096 bit RSA :-o
if that ain't enough then you really are insanely paranoid...

I had PGP, lost it and my key due to a system crash (nothing to do with pgp), I'll have to download it again... the site is pgp.com or something, you'll get the sourcecode and all if you want.

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What about the COPYRIGHT VIOLATIONS? RSA was released to public domain in 2000 I think, pgp has been around since 1991. In the words of Phil Zimmerman - the creator of PGP, "When privacy is outlawed only outlaws will have privacy."


 cryptdoctor


I hear distributing virus-code that way isn't illegal either. The first law of laws - for every law, there is a loophole!

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Yes, copyrights too... Maybe RSA is new addition to pgp. There seem to be more than one PGP as well and some are commercial products. Really those legal issues give me headache, I only know there's been some big fights about pgp...

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"When privacy is outlawed only outlaws will have privacy."
This is one of the points I try to make all over. Same w/ gun control: when it is outlawed, the criminals will still use guns (since they are outlaws anyway ).

PGP is NOT illegal. There are two types, one for US/Canada and another for international countries. But the damn US government actually REGULATES some encryption.

DSS (suposed to be better) is the new standard for PGP encryption with up to 4096 bits.

Here is a message to the clowns (only SOME are clowns) of the US government:
If you outlaw encryption, your Osama bin Laden will still use it like hell.

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My guess is Osama would be combining encryption with stegnography or something similar. He is (or was) a smart guy. Gotta give him that.


 jordanaf2003


Well, I can't agree with that. I don't beleive that guns should be legal. That's a totally different issue - Physical weapons can be controlled if the government has a majority cooperation. Besides guns are purely OFFENSIVE weapons. Encryption is more tactical or defensive. With guns on the streets, everybody looses.

Besides, if guns are made legal, then the same standard must apply at a national level with nuclear weapons.

Peace,
-Alternate.

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I did some search about how the legal issues about pgp are doing at the moment... Horrible mess. One version of pgp used rsa, idea and other patented algorithms, so in order to make it free, another version vas made with dss and other non-patended algorithms. Then RSA patent expired while IDEA patent is still in effect until 2007 or something so ANOTHER free version (with RSA) was made and then add to that openPGP and all and now it is a complete mess...

And that is just the copyright part. Next comes the regulations on strong encryption that gave birth to even more variations that of course don't work together...

Although I do agree with some patent things (if you create something valuable, you should get paid...) but these governmental regulations really piss me off

Forbidding encryption is like having a law that says you can't lock your door because that would prevent police from going in and checking if you have a drug lab or a torture chamber in your room. Now, if police thinks you have, they can try to get a search warrant, right? So why wouldn't it be same with encryption? If police has a reason to think you are part of osama's gang, they can get a warrant to force you to decrypt your stuff. Like "decrypt this or go to jail for obstructing justice!". That would of course mean the police (or other legal institutions) have right to record your communications, but I can live with that as long as encryption is free...

Situation at the moment is completely illogical. While legal institutions are complaining that they don't have the means to combat cyber-crime, at the same time they are trying to prevent ordinary people from doing the hard work to protect themselves

Well, all this intrusion of privacy and other governmental bullshit is actually what made me to study these things...

Awww, made my fingers hurt to type all that crap, but this is really a serious problem...

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I use a free thing that has RSA and DSS. It was written by Network Associates (so I don't think it's illegal, NA is a BIG software company with a bunch of lawyers).

 Crypdoctor


I agree 100%. They couldn't do this in the US until a constitutional ammendment is changed (that could be hard: GOOD!). If they do it, we're going to be just like Canada with the gun control issue. Our documents will be open to criminals and terrorists (whom use encryption... of course).

Until then, PHP's mcrypt(), my hex2asc() and asc2hex() functions are my favorite! I have written an encryption script that encrypts data with 4 algorithms, converts it to hex, flips it around, changes the letters/numbers with str_replace(), (plus a few other things in between ) and write it to a file. ... and of course this runs on my own server, otherwise it's not secure.

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 jordanaf2003


Yeah, that's another thing against regulations... Commercial/public systems can't rely on weird combinations of algorithms to be secure, 'cos criminals would eventually reverse engineer them, but the criminals themselves can take few weak algorithms (legally available) and use various combinations of them to secure their communications. I can't imagine any legal institutions being able to get both the message and the software, reverse engineer the software and THEN do brute force attack and all this before the suspects die of old age...
Oh, by the way, I had no intention to imply that you might have any suspicious reasons for doing all that

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Just remembered, I was trying to create my own "algorithm" some time ago, and one thing it did was to store everything in a vector and use swap() (C++ vector method) to do some permutations... Horrible , slowest thing I've ever created since I tried fractals with Amiga 500. Decided to leave that part to professionals...

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Really, 256 bit AES usually satisfies me.

My script things goes: Decrypted Text > GOST > ROT13 > CAST > AES > strrev() > DES

With a decent key, it might take supercray a while to decrypt it. Though I am not concerned about the CIA or NSA getting a hold of my data.

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 Crypdoctor


Remeber, when the "professionals" create an algorithm, it's not just computer programmers. They probably have mathematicians that design the algorithm, then the computer geeks that convert to design into computer readable format.

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 AlternateLifeform


I know this is a bit off topic but...

The states in the US that allow concealed weapons (weapons on you) have lower crime rates than the rest. That's because if a criminal sees a gun on you, or knows that it is legal and you could have on, he doen't attack you. If you are unarmed, he's going to kick your ass.

one more thing...

Remember in Russia (when it was the USSR)? The "government" outlawed guns. Well, this made the people helpless, which makes it easier for the government to kill the people.
If guns are outlawed:
1. The people have no defense if the government goes against them.
2. The country will be destroyed in war if the military is destroyed.
Basically. the citizens are the last line of defense for a nation.

EDIT:

Firearms are also a line of DEFENSE, DEFENSE.

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Encryption is not like guns, you can't attack with pgp. Encryption is something similar to bullet proof jacket: can't hurt anybody with it, however it can potentially make police work a little bit more difficult if you happen to be criminal...

And to the main point of this message, I found an interesting link
encryption stuff

Some basic stuff first and then it explains how to use pgp from php-script. Made me want to try it immediately

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I read this about two days ago. Neat huh?

I make some other powerful personal scripts using the system() function. Such as backing up data files to a network computer.

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