7.5.1. PGP 2.0 arrived at an important time
- in September 1992, the very same week the Cypherpunks had
their first meeting, in Oakland, CA. (Arthur Abraham
printed up professional-looking diskette labels for the PGO
2.0 diskettes distributed. A general feeling that we were
forming at the "right time.")
- just 6 months before the Clipper announcement caused a
firestorm of interest in public key cryptography
7.5.2. PGP has been the catalyst for major shifts in opinion
- has educated tens of thousands of users in the nature of
strong crypto
- has led to other tools, including encrypted remailers,
experiments in digital money, etc.
7.5.3. "If this stuff is so important, how come not everyone is
digitally signing their messages?"
- (Me, for example. I never sign my messages, and this FAQ is
not signed. Maybe I will, later.)
- convenience, ease of use, "all crypto is economics"
- insecurity of host Unix machines (illusory)
- better integration with mailers needed
7.5.4. Ripem appears to be dead; traffic in alt.security.ripem is
almost zero. PGP has obviously won the hearts and minds of
the user community; and now that it's "legal"...
By Tim May, see README
HTML by Jonathan Rochkind