---
title: "I stopped PGP encrypted emails"
date: 2025-02-04T10:36:00+01:00
draft: false
tags: ["tech","encryption","PGP","data privacy"]
author: "Olivier Falcoz"
hidemeta: false
ShowReadingTime: true
ShowPostNavLinks: true
showtoc: false
cover:
  image: "/images/"
  alt: "<alt text>"
  caption: "<text>"
---
![Posting my PGP key for 15 years](/images/xkcd-pgp-public-key.png "I guess I should be signing stuff, but I've never been sure what to sign. Maybe if I post my private key, I can crowdsource my decisions about what to sign.")
Public key cryptography[^1] - [xkcd](https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1553:_Public_Key)

## Background

> [Spoiler]: Before the community of die-hard PGP[^2] users jump all over me, let me give you a little bit of background on this.

I've been using PGP for nearly 20 years. It was one of the few solutions that allowed me to avoid the invasive curiosity of our Chinese *friends* when I lived in China[^3]. Around the same time, and for similar reasons, I also gave up Windows and switched my working environment to Linux.


---
[^1]: Cartoon explanation: when Cueball first created the key pair, he imagined it would be something he used from time to time, for reading messages only intended for him or for sending "signed" messages. Since nothing of the sort happened, he imagines releasing both keys might cause some activity, and at this point he is happier with a *bad* outcome than with a boring one - [xkcd](https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1553:_Public_Key). 
[^2]: PGP here refers to [OpenPGP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy#OpenPGP) - Wikipedia
[^3]: [China bans Microsoft](https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-27494650) Windows 8 on government computers - BBC