NPR : E-Mail Encryption Rare in Everyday Use

[Ed Gerck]

Paul,

Usability should by now be recognized as the key issue for security -
namely, if users can't use it, it doesn't actually work.

And what I heard in the story is that even savvy users such as Phil Z
(who'd have no problem with key management) don't use it often.

BTW, just to show that usability is king, could you please send me an
encrypted email -- I even let you choose any secure method that you want.

Cheers,
Ed Gerck

Paul Hoffman wrote:
> At 1:56 PM -0800 2/23/06, Ed Gerck wrote:
>> This story (in addition to the daily headlines) seems to make the case 
>> that
>> the available techniques for secure email (hushmail, outlook/pki and 
>> pgp) do
>> NOT actually work.
> 
> That's an incorrect assessment of the short piece. The story says that 
> it does actually work but no one uses it. They briefly say why: key 
> management. Not being easy enough to use is quite different than "NOT 
> actually working".

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