# I am the Watcher. I am your guide through this vast new twtiverse.
# 
# Usage:
#     https://watcher.sour.is/api/plain/users              View list of users and latest twt date.
#     https://watcher.sour.is/api/plain/twt                View all twts.
#     https://watcher.sour.is/api/plain/mentions?uri=:uri  View all mentions for uri.
#     https://watcher.sour.is/api/plain/conv/:hash         View all twts for a conversation subject.
# 
# Options:
#     uri     Filter to show a specific users twts.
#     offset  Start index for quey.
#     limit   Count of items to return (going back in time).
# 
# twt range = 1 23
# self = https://watcher.sour.is/conv/jc4lrpq
Does anyone of you use PGP encrypted mail, or any kind or email encryption? Why? Why not?

#randomQuestionsForAThursday
@eaplmx No, I do not. Mostly because nobody else does, the tools that exist are not well known nor widely used. I used to at a place I worked at that was very serious about Email security. I have the capability to do so even now, but almost no-one I know of does teh same.
@eaplmx No, I do not. Mostly because nobody else does, the tools that exist are not well known nor widely used. I used to at a place I worked at that was very serious about Email security. I have the capability to do so even now, but almost no-one I know of does teh same.
@eaplmx I have on occasion, but most people don't care to do it. I don't do much actual communication over e-mail. Even if the content is encrypted, all the headers are out in the open.
@mckinley That's how I feel about communication over email as well. The subject, the date and time, who you're talking to are all in the clear 😢
@mckinley That's how I feel about communication over email as well. The subject, the date and time, who you're talking to are all in the clear 😢
@prologic The only thing it has going for it is ubiquity. I think there needs to be a brand new set of protocols for e-mail, perhaps implementing some of the concepts from Lars Wirzenius' Re-thinking electronic mail
@mckinley This was an interesting read 👌 I have similar ideas myself -- Espwcially like the idea of "stamps"
@mckinley This was an interesting read 👌 I have similar ideas myself -- Espwcially like the idea of "stamps"
@mckinley @prologic I second this. To a lesser degree, it has discoverability going for it as well. It definitely did "back in the day", less so now. Personally I think that's an important feature that is mostly missing from decentralized communication platforms, and another argument in favor of centralized ones.
@eaplmx I'm fully set up to use it, but no one I communicate with regularly uses it, so I don't. I suppose I would if everyone else I knew used it, but as others have pointed out, the headers are in cleartext and that reduces the safety factor.
@mckinley Interesting... I think if we re-invent the email it will convert into another thing, not to email 2.0 (or whatever version we currently are)

And the concept of digital stamps is nice, I've heard of it a few times before, but I think it would be difficult with many free alternatives, and the concept of digital telecommunications as 'free'.
@eaplmx There's basically one mate with whom I communicate in encrypted e-mails. The subject must of course some random garbage. But all other people don't care about it. Sadly.
@eaplmx I do have GPG set up and I use the *key* a lot (like signing Git commits, release tarballs, password stores, …). Regarding email, though, let’s see …

I just skimmed over the mails of the last 2 years (back to July 2020). I’ve exchanged mails with 39 different people, which is way more than I expected. 😳 7 of those people were also using GPG and we sent some encrypted mails back and forth. 🤔 (Only counting direct mail to other people here, not notifications or mailing lists – those make up the vast majority, of course, and they’re all unencrypted.)

It’s more than I expected, but let’s be honest: Those other GPG users are mostly some uber-nerds that comment on something I wrote in my Gopher hole. 😅 “Normal people” don’t care, at all.

@mckinley Interesting read. 🤔 The idea of stamps seems intriguing. (Could this work? Do people care enough? Or are they gonna say “too complicated, why doesn’t it just work?!“? Because let’s be honest: Current email is probably *good enough* already for 99% of people …)
@eaplmx I do have GPG set up and I use the *key* a lot (like signing Git commits, release tarballs, password stores, …). Regarding email, though, let’s see …

I just skimmed over the mails of the last 2 years (back to July 2020). I’ve exchanged mails with 39 different people, which is way more than I expected. 😳 7 of those people were also using GPG and we sent some encrypted mails back and forth. 🤔 (Only counting direct mail to other people here, not notifications or mailing lists – those make up the vast majority, of course, and they’re all unencrypted.)

It’s more than I expected, but let’s be honest: Those other GPG users are mostly some uber-nerds that comment on something I wrote in my Gopher hole. 😅 “Normal people” don’t care, at all.

@mckinley Interesting read. 🤔 The idea of stamps seems intriguing. (Could this work? Do people care enough? Or are they gonna say “too complicated, why doesn’t it just work?!“? Because let’s be honest: Current email is probably *good enough* already for 99% of people …)
@eaplmx I do have GPG set up and I use the *key* a lot (like signing Git commits, release tarballs, password stores, …). Regarding email, though, let’s see …

I just skimmed over the mails of the last 2 years (back to July 2020). I’ve exchanged mails with 39 different people, which is way more than I expected. 😳 7 of those people were also using GPG and we sent some encrypted mails back and forth. 🤔 (Only counting direct mail to other people here, not notifications or mailing lists – those make up the vast majority, of course, and they’re all unencrypted.)

It’s more than I expected, but let’s be honest: Those other GPG users are mostly some uber-nerds that comment on something I wrote in my Gopher hole. 😅 “Normal people” don’t care, at all.

@mckinley Interesting read. 🤔 The idea of stamps seems intriguing. (Could this work? Do people care enough? Or are they gonna say “too complicated, why doesn’t it just work?!“? Because let’s be honest: Current email is probably *good enough* already for 99% of people …)
@eaplmx Whoops, I didn’t answer the “why do you use it”: Actually, I don’t really know …

It would be awesome to use GPG for *private stuff*, like family photos and such. A lot of sensitive information is sent that way (in my family at least). All of that is unencrypted, sadly, because nobody in my family uses GPG. I talked to them about it a couple of times, but it’s just too complicated. So now Google and other companies have a ton of photos with me on it. That really sucks a lot. (These kinds of things are gradually moving over to our family Matrix server, so it’s getting better. Not that Matrix is a great thing, but at least it’s self-hosted.)

So all the *encrypted* mail is mostly mundane stuff that could have been public anyway. 😂 Which brings us to the question why I bother …
@eaplmx Whoops, I didn’t answer the “why do you use it”: Actually, I don’t really know …

It would be awesome to use GPG for *private stuff*, like family photos and such. A lot of sensitive information is sent that way (in my family at least). All of that is unencrypted, sadly, because nobody in my family uses GPG. I talked to them about it a couple of times, but it’s just too complicated. So now Google and other companies have a ton of photos with me on it. That really sucks a lot. (These kinds of things are gradually moving over to our family Matrix server, so it’s getting better. Not that Matrix is a great thing, but at least it’s self-hosted.)

So all the *encrypted* mail is mostly mundane stuff that could have been public anyway. 😂 Which brings us to the question why I bother …
@eaplmx Whoops, I didn’t answer the “why do you use it”: Actually, I don’t really know …

It would be awesome to use GPG for *private stuff*, like family photos and such. A lot of sensitive information is sent that way (in my family at least). All of that is unencrypted, sadly, because nobody in my family uses GPG. I talked to them about it a couple of times, but it’s just too complicated. So now Google and other companies have a ton of photos with me on it. That really sucks a lot. (These kinds of things are gradually moving over to our family Matrix server, so it’s getting better. Not that Matrix is a great thing, but at least it’s self-hosted.)

So all the *encrypted* mail is mostly mundane stuff that could have been public anyway. 😂 Which brings us to the question why I bother …
I maintain keys for my email addresses.. but like most in this thread i almost never receive encrypted emails.. other than the BTC exchange i use that sends automated mail encrypted.
I maintain keys for my email addresses.. but like most in this thread i almost never receive encrypted emails.. other than the BTC exchange i use that sends automated mail encrypted.
no idea why we aren't emailing each other this thread, encrypted of course.
thank you everyone for your answers! 😀