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As long as you use a sufficiently healthy key pair, PGP is essentially unbreakable, but some in government have taken care of that as well. I don't remember the details of the case, but the simple fact that the defendant used PGP was enough to convict him recently. Also, some people have done time for refusing to give up the passphrase to their decryption key.

I fear the privacy and freedom we have given up in the name of "Homeland Security" will not easily be won back.

As long as you use a sufficiently healthy key pair, PGP is essentially unbreakable, but some in government have taken care of that as well.

With commercial PGP, sure. But with Open Source GPG, I doubt it.

I don't remember the details of the case, but the simple fact that the defendant used PGP was enough to convict him recently.

I'm going to have to see some details on that. What you describe is absurd and a positively blatant violation of the Fifth Amendment. Even if it flew in one court (which I find highly doubtful), it'd never fly on appeal.

Also, some people have done time for refusing to give up the passphrase to their decryption key.

I think you've got some seriously erroneous reports, Steve. Not forking over a passphrase is totally covered under the Fifth Amendment (the right to not incriminate yourself).

I'm going to need to see some credible links on these claims.