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PGP isn’t all that buggy but it does have a back door, as will most other publicly available encryption tools. Any cipher can be broken given enough computer time.

Likewise you could very well be a plant looking to make a list of who is interested in this stuff.

"PGP isn’t all that buggy but it does have a back door, as will most other publicly available encryption tools. Any cipher can be broken given enough computer time."

PGP was buggy for me, but if it has a "back door", then it's usless.

So your point is that "most...publicly available encryption tools" that are not easily decrypted are expensive? Do I have that correct? If so, what would be the cost of a safe private encryption program that takes time to break?

Likewise you could very well be a plant looking to make a list of who is interested in this stuff."

I knew that would be an immediate concern...good for you for questioning my intent so quickly. However, just ask the owner of this forum (JR)to verify my bona fides. I used to work with him in person, face to face, and we are still both members of a Veterans organization, although not as close as we used to be. But he knows who and what I'm about. Just send him a Freepmail or personal e-mail or call him at his forum number.

Again, I appreciate your response.

Any cipher can be broken given enough computer time.

True, but computer time is a finite resource. Thus gubmint agencies who wish to snoop encrypted messages must pick and choose messages that are likely to be interesting.

Let's say that Mahmoud sends Ali an encrypted message that's 45,258 bytes long, and Bob sends Alice an encrypted message that's also 45,258 bytes long. Agent Smith wants to catch Mahmoud and Ali, but not waste his time on Bob and Alice. Without some prior knowledge of who sent which message to whom, Agent Smith risks seeing Mahmoud and Ali slip through his fingers because he used his computer time to decode Bob's grocery shopping list to Alice.

The lesson for the rest of us, assuming that Agent "O" is more interested in catching Americans than he is catching Mahmoud and Ali, is to encrypt everything. OK Agent "O", which message is the plans for the secret tea party meeting and which is Sarah Palin's Møøsë pie recipe?

That’s just the thing. Encrypted doesn’t mena never breakable. The main concern you need to have with encryption is that it is not breakable until it’s no good because whatever the message is has already occurred. Encyrption strength is only important about delaying the inevitable, you pick the strength you need to keep the info secure until it’s too late to be any good.