[Discuss] GPG encryption and gmail

[kentborg at borg.org (Kent Borg)]

On 08/31/2016 07:58 PM, Rich Pieri wrote:
> Actually, I suggest not using Android at all in this capacity. Android
> is not a secure, reliable platform.

Good point.

I don't dare use Android for anything sensitive, it is too big a target, 
too weakly secured. I use NO Android banking apps.  (Were I an Apple 
type, same answer.)

Actually, I do use a cheap and very off-brand Android phone for 
sensitive stuff--but I keep it /incommunicado/. I have never put a SIM 
in it (it came from Hong Kong, it is all international, it has two SIM 
slots!). I have never let it connect to the internet. So I don't need to 
trust it so much.

But my daily phone and Nexus 7 tablet? No way I will type any sensitive 
passwords on either of them.

My e-mail? Not so sensitive. I don't bother to encrypt messages.

If I had really sensitive e-mail, how would I do that? An interesting 
question. It would depend on the details: What am I doing that is so 
damn special and who might be after it? How hard might they try? How 
much money do they have to spend, how good is the sound proofing where 
they keep the $5 wrenches (https://xkcd.com/538/)?

There is a general-purpose good reason to encrypt e-mail: to make life 
harder for the spies. More encrypted traffic means more inaccessible hay 
for them to stack up in frustration.

-kb