Why Not GPG?

Phil Zimmermann.
(taken from the Phil Zimmermann Website.)

*Note: OpenPGP and GPG are used interchangeably in this article

In the modern world, computing is a crutch that everyone relies on. Even though this is the reality we exist in, no one of 'power' or 'importance' has ever really brought up security for the general public until recent years. Encryption is a tool that the people should be aware of, and use often. GnuPG, or OpenPGP is an encryption tool that should be made a very important part of everyone's computing world. 

In 1991, Phil Zimmermann created the first version of “Pretty Good Privacy” or PGP. It was originally developed for 'anti-nuclear activists' to securely communicate and withhold information from the prying types to ensure safety. In 1993 Zimmermann was prosecuted by the U.S. for 'munitions export without a license'. At this time, cryptographic programs over 40-bits were considered military-grade weapons. Acting in opposition of what the U.S. would have preferred, Zimmermann came off unscathed. Then teamed with the people at MIT, the public got the chance to receive the source code for the project from a $60 book. The source code was also given to all those who received the OpenPGP program as well.

In current times, the scope of usage for the OpenPGP project has widened to be used by just about every journalist, and just about every business. Without GPG, many people inside and outside of United States would have been quickly realized; and it is unknown what could have happened. Another group of people that often use encryption are the 'villains'; possibly learning from the mistakes that people like Osama Bin Laden had made (as far as being so overconfident to not use encryption on phone calls or other forms of communication).

Why not the general public? If it's good enough for the justice-bringers, the law-breakers, and the mediators, why can't the Average Joe use it? It provides one the security of knowing that only the parties involved will have access to said information. The only chances (so far) that higher powers will have to get to this information is by decrypting the information through either finding the key, (through some mistake of one of the parties), or brute force, which can take a couple days to weeks. In other words, if someone really wants to know what you did on this day around dinner time, they'll have to try really hard.

One thing that has never changed since the beginning of the life of GnuPG, is that it has always been an 'enemy of the state'. Rightfully so. In America, by the views brought to us from people like John Locke and James Madison, we should never be afraid of the Government. The Government should fall unto the people.