03 Who uses PGP encryption [or other RSA-based systems]?
Description
This article is from the PGP mini FAQ, by Andre Bacard abacard@well.sf.ca.us with numerous contributions by others.
03 Who uses PGP encryption [or other RSA-based systems]?
People who value privacy use PGP. Politicians running
election campaigns, taxpayers storing IRS records,
therapists protecting clients' files, entrepreneurs
guarding trade secrets, journalists protecting their
sources, and people seeking romance are a few of the law
abiding citizens who use PGP to keep their computer files
and their e-mail confidential.
Businesses also use PGP. Suppose you're a corporate
manager and you need to e-mail an employee about his job
performance. You may be required by law to keep this e-
mail confidential. Suppose you're a saleswoman, and you
must communicate over public computer networks with a
branch office about your customer list. You may be
compelled by your company and the law to keep this list
confidential. These are a few reasons why businesses use
encryption to protect their customers, their employees,
and themselves.
PGP also helps secure financial transactions. For
example, the Electronic Frontier Foundations uses PGP to
encrypt members' charge account numbers, so that members
can pay dues via e-mail.
Thomas G. Donlan, an editor at BARRON'S [a financial
publication related to THE WALL STREET JOURNAL], wrote a
full-page editorial in the April 25, 1994 BARRON'S
entitled "Privacy and Security: Computer Technology Opens
Secrets, And Closes Them."
Mr. Donlan wrote, in part:
RSA Data Security, the company founded by the
three inventors, has hundreds of satisfied
customers, including Microsoft, Apple, Novell,
Sun, AT&T and Lotus. Versions of RSA are
available for almost any personal computer or
workstation, many of them built into the
operating systems. Lotus Notes, the network
communications system, automatically encrypts
all it messages using RSA. Other companies
have similar products designed around the same
basic concept, and some versions are available
for free on computer bulletin boards.
Donlan continues:
Without security, the Internet is little more
than the world's biggest bulletin board. With
security, it could become the information
supermarket of the world. RSA lets people and
banks feels secure putting their credit-card
numbers on the public network. Although it
still seems that computers created an age of
snoopery, the age of privacy is at hand.
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