Remembering when we just used PGP keys in our email signatures

Three years ago, my whole writers group in Portland used to share our public PGP keys openly in our email footers. Last month, a member told me he removed his after a friend got a warning from their internet provider for 'suspicious activity'. Now, I see people asking if they should even keep Signal on their main phone, worried about border checks. When did basic privacy tools start feeling like a risk instead of a right?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_oliver21d ago

It's part of the same creep where everything from a VPN to a password manager gets looked at sideways now. Normal tools get painted with the same brush as doing something wrong, so people just stop using them. The goal was always to make us feel too nervous to protect ourselves.

kellyfoster21d agoTop Commenter

Forget they also want us scared of cash.