“I’m not doing anything wrong,’ I often hear people say, ‘I don’t mind if the government can see all my emails and listen to all my phone calls.”
Or they say, “If someone wants to look through all my emails and all my computer files, then I hope they are taking Meth, because my life is pretty boring and it would probably put them to sleep!”
And then they laugh.
Here’s what these people are missing: The same reason we lock our front doors using our house keys, or put our money into a bank account instead of piling it out onto our front lawn, is the same reason we should be encrypting our emails and texts. We should also develop the ability to encrypt the files on our computers and other devices, as well.
In the same way that you are the owner of the property in your home – and you lock your door so that you can control who has access to the things you own – you are also the owner of your digital property. As the owner, you have the right to control who uses your private property, and you should not willingly give up that right if you want to keep it.
Encryption is Like the Envelope You Put on a Letter
Similar to the envelope surrounding a letter you send through the postal system, encryption is a technology which makes digital files and communications difficult for anyone else to read and to copy – anyone other than your intended recipient, that is.
Unless you are using encryption, your digital files, emails, and texts are sent like postcards are sent through the mail – with no envelope surrounding your information. Anyone along that route can read and copy what you say.
That’s right. Would you write your login information to your bank account on to a post card and send it through the mail?
If you email or text a password to a client, business partner, friend or family member, that password can be read and copied anywhere along the route it is taking through the Internet. This is called “clear text”, or “text sent in the clear” and you have to be very aware that this is what you are doing if you are sending any email, text, or file without encrypting it.
So the answer is NO. You are not a criminal, or a spy, or a terrorist, for wanting to encrypt your digital property.
You’re just smarter than too many others these days.
Here are some resources for you to use to learn more about this skill:
Good luck out there!