4 <meta http-equiv=
"content-type" content=
"text/html; charset=utf-8" />
6 <title>Email Self-Defense - Teach your friends!
</title>
7 <meta name=
"keywords" content=
"GnuPG, GPG, openpgp, surveillance, privacy, email, Enigmail" />
8 <meta name=
"description" content=
"Email surveillance violates our fundamental rights and makes free speech risky. This guide will teach you email self-defense in 30 minutes with GnuPG." />
10 <meta name=
"viewport" content=
"width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />
11 <link rel=
"stylesheet" href=
"//static.fsf.org/nosvn/enc-dev0/css/main.css" />
12 <link rel=
"shortcut icon" href=
"//static.fsf.org/nosvn/enc-dev0/img/favicon.ico" />
17 <!-- ~~~~~~~~~ GnuPG Header and introduction text ~~~~~~~~~ -->
19 <header class=
"row" id=
"header">
21 <h1>Email Self-Defense
</h1>
23 <!-- Languages removed until we have translations-->
25 <ul id=
"menu" class=
"os">
27 <a href=
"index.html">GNU/Linux
</a>
30 <a href=
"mac.html">Mac OS
</a>
33 <a href=
"windows.html">Windows
</a>
35 <li class=
"spacer"><a href=
"workshops.html" class=
"current">Lead a Workshop
</a></li>
37 <a href=
"https://fsf.org/share?u=https://u.fsf.org/zb&t=Email encryption for everyone via %40fsf">
39 <img src=
"//static.fsf.org/nosvn/enc-dev0/img/gnu-social.png"
40 class=
"share-logo" alt=
"[GNU Social]">
41 <img src=
"//static.fsf.org/nosvn/enc-dev0/img/pump.io.png"
42 class=
"share-logo" alt=
"[Pump.io]">
43 <img src=
"//static.fsf.org/nosvn/enc-dev0/img/reddit-alien.png"
44 class=
"share-logo" alt=
"[Reddit]">
45 <img src=
"//static.fsf.org/nosvn/enc-dev0/img/hacker-news.png"
46 class=
"share-logo" alt=
"[Hacker News]">
49 <li class=
"spacer">V4.0
</li>
51 <!-- ~~~~~~~~~ FSF Introduction ~~~~~~~~~ -->
54 <a href=
"http://u.fsf.org/ys">
55 <img alt=
"Free Software Foundation" src=
"//static.fsf.org/nosvn/enc-dev0/img/fsf-logo.png">
58 <div class=
"fsf-emphasis">
60 We fight for computer users'
61 rights, and promote the development of free (as in freedom) software.
62 Resisting bulk surveillance is very important to us.
66 We want to translate this guide
67 into more languages, and make a version for encryption on mobile
68 devices. Please donate, and help people around the world take the first
69 step towards protecting their privacy with free software.
74 <p><a href=
"https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=14&pk_campaign=email_self_defense&pk_kwd=guide_donate"><img alt=
"Donate" src=
"//static.fsf.org/nosvn/enc-dev0/img/en/donate.png"></a> </p>
76 </div><!-- End #fsf-intro -->
78 <!-- ~~~~~~~~~ Guide Introduction ~~~~~~~~~ -->
81 <a id=
"infographic" href=
"https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/en/infographic.html"><img src=
"//static.fsf.org/nosvn/enc-dev0/img/en/infographic-button.png" alt=
"View & share our infographic →"></a>
82 <p>Understanding and setting up email encryption sounds like a daunting task to many people. That's why helping your friends with GnuPG plays such an important role in helping spread encryption. Even if only one person shows up, that's still one more person using encryption who wasn't before. You have the power to help your friends keep their digital love letters private, and teach them about the importance of free software. If you use GnuPG to send and receive encrypted email, you're a perfect candidate for leading a workshop!
</p>
84 </div><!-- End .intro -->
87 </header><!-- End #header -->
89 <!-- ~~~~~~~~~ Section 1: Get your friends or community interested> ~~~~~~~~~ -->
90 <section class=
"row" id=
"section1">
92 <!-- ~~~~~~~~~ section introduction: interspersed text ~~~~~~~~~ -->
93 <div class=
"section-intro">
94 <h2><em>#
1</em> Get your friends or community interested
</h2>
95 <p>If you hear friends grumbling about their lack of privacy, ask them if they're interested in attending a workshop on Email Self-Defense. If your friends don't grumble about privacy, they may need some convincing. You might even hear the classic
"If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear" argument against using encryption.
</p>
96 <p>Here are some arguments you can use to help explain why it's worth it to learn GnuPG. Feel free to mix and match whichever you think will make sense to your community:
</p>
97 <h3>Strength in numbers
</h3>
98 <p>Each person who chooses to resist mass surveillance with encryption makes it easier for others to resist as well. People normalizing the use of strong cryptography has multiple powerful effects: It means those that truly need it, like potential whistle-blowers and activists, are more likely to learn about it. More people using it for more things also makes it harder for surveillance systems to single out those that can't afford to be found, and shows solidarity with those people.
</p>
100 </div><!-- End .section-intro -->
102 <div id=
"step-aa" class=
"step">
104 <h3><em>Step
1.a
</em> Strength in numbers
</h3>
105 <p>Each person who chooses to resist mass surveillance with encryption makes it easier for others to resist as well. People normalizing the use of strong cryptography has multiple powerful effects: It means those that truly need it, like potential whistle-blowers and activists, are more likely to learn about it. More people using it for more things also makes it harder for surveillance systems to single out those that can't afford to be found, and shows solidarity with those people.
</p>
106 </div><!-- End .main -->
107 </div><!-- End #step-2a .step -->
110 </section><!-- End #section1 -->
112 <!-- ~~~~~~~~~ Section 1: Plan The Workshop ~~~~~~~~~ -->
113 <section class=
"row" id=
"section2">
115 <!-- ~~~~~~~~~ section introduction: interspersed text ~~~~~~~~~ -->
116 <div class=
"section-intro">
117 <h2><em>#
1</em> Plan The Workshop
</h2>
118 <p>When you hear friends bemoaning their lack of digital privacy, ask them if they're interested in attending a workshop to on email self-defense. Once you've got a handful of people interested, pick a date and start planning out the event. Tell participants to bring their computer, their ID (for signing each other's key) and a flash drive.
</p>
120 <p>The success of each workshop requires understanding and catering to the unique background and needs of each group of participants. Workshops should stay small, so that participants receive more individualized instruction. If more than a handful of people want to participate, keep the participant:facilitator ratio low by recruiting more facilitators, or by facilitating multiple workshops. Ideally, facilitators should be known and trusted members of the participants' community. Small workshops among friends work great!
</p>
122 <p>Many activists, journalists, whistleblowers, businessfolk, academics, and dissidents use the OpenPGP standard, so participants might unknowingly know of a few people who use it already. If possible, make a list of people and organizations that use OpenPGP which participants will likely recognize by searching for
<a href=
"https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%22BEGIN+PGP+PUBLIC+KEY+BLOCK%22+%2B+%22free+software%22">"BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK" + keyword
</a>.
</p>
123 </div><!-- End .section-intro -->
125 <!-- ~~~~~~~~~ a div for each step ~~~~~~~~~ -->
126 <div id=
"step-1a" class=
"step">
127 <div class=
"sidebar">
128 <p><img src=
"//static.fsf.org/nosvn/enc-dev0/img/en/screenshots/step1a-install-wizard.png" alt=
"Step 2.A: Make a Keypair"></p>
129 </div><!-- /.sidebar -->
131 <h3><em>Step
1.a
</em> Space and Preparation
</h3>
132 <p>Make sure the location you select has an easily accessible internet connection, and make backup plans in case the connection stops working on the day of the workshop. Try and get all the participants to set up an Enigmail-compatible email client before the event. Direct them to their organizations IT department or help page if they run into errors. Estimate that the workshop to take at a minimum
30 minutes plus about five to
10 minutes for each participant. Plan extra time for glitches and questions.
</p>
134 </div><!-- End .main -->
135 </div><!-- End #terminology.step-->
139 </section><!-- End #section2 -->
141 <!-- ~~~~~~~~~ Section 2: Follow The Guide ~~~~~~~~~ -->
142 <section class=
"row" id=
"section3">
144 <!-- ~~~~~~~~~ section introduction: interspersed text ~~~~~~~~~ -->
145 <div class=
"section-intro">
146 <h2><em>#
2</em> Follow The Guide
</h2>
147 <p>Have the participants work through the Email Self-Defense guide a step at a time on their own computers. Make sure all participants complete each step before the group moves on to the next step. Talk about each step, but be sure not to overload the participants with minutia. Pitch the bulk of your instruction to the least tech-savvy participants. Consider holding a secondary workshop afterwards for the outliers in either direction.
</p>
149 </div><!-- End .section-intro -->
151 <!-- ~~~~~~~~~ a div for each step ~~~~~~~~~ -->
152 <div id=
"step-2a" class=
"step">
153 <div class=
"sidebar">
154 <p><img src=
"//static.fsf.org/nosvn/enc-dev0/img/en/screenshots/step2a-01-make-keypair.png" alt=
"Try it out."></p>
155 </div><!-- /.sidebar -->
157 <h3><em>Step
2.a
</em> Public and Private Keys key
</h3>
158 <p>Make sure all the participants have a conceptual understanding of the relationship between public and private keys in a keypair. It's normal for people to not understand public-key cryptography on the first try. Use analogies to help explain the concept.
</p>
160 </div><!-- End .main -->
161 </div><!-- End #step-2a .step -->
163 <!-- ~~~~~~~~~ a div for each step ~~~~~~~~~ -->
164 <div id=
"step-2b" class=
"step">
165 <div class=
"sidebar">
166 <p><img src=
"//static.fsf.org/nosvn/enc-dev0/img/en/screenshots/section5-02-use-it-well.png" alt=
"Section 5: Use it Well" /></p>
167 </div><!-- /.sidebar -->
169 <h3><em>Step
2.b
</em> Diceware and Passphrases
</h3>
170 <p>Sufficiently strong passphrases
<a href=
"https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/03/26/passphrases-can-memorize-attackers-cant-guess/"> can't easily be brute forced
</a>, and thus protect the private key even if it falls into the wrong hands. Recommend participants use the
<a href=
"http://world.std.com/~reinhold/diceware.html"> diceware method
</a>, and have dice and the wordlist available for them to use. Participants who choose to use diceware should keep their passphrase with them at all at all times until they memorize it. Stress the importance of creating and backing up revocation certificates, especially to participants who write down their diceware passphrases.
</p>
171 <!-- ~~~~~~~~~ Troubleshooting ~~~~~~~~~ -->
172 <div class=
"troubleshooting">
175 <dt>Diceware and Licensing
</dt>
176 <dd>Something here about diceware's relationship with free software, or something.
</dd>
178 </div><!-- /.troubleshooting -->
180 </div><!-- End .main -->
181 </div><!-- End #step-3b .step -->
185 </section><!-- End #section3 -->
188 <!-- ~~~~~~~~~ Section 3: Sign Keys ~~~~~~~~~ -->
189 <section class=
"row" id=
"section4">
191 <!-- ~~~~~~~~~ section introduction: interspersed text ~~~~~~~~~ -->
192 <div class=
"section-intro">
193 <h2><em>#
3</em> Sign Keys
</h2>
194 <p>Emphasize the distinction between trusting a person subjectively, and seeing whose keys they've signed objectively. Without a proper understanding of trust, the beautiful transative trust properties of the web of trust are lost. Since trust is an internal and subjective thing, it's unnecessary for participants to share how much they trust another participant with anyone else.
</p>
196 <p>Have the participants download each other's keys, read out their own fingerprints, and present their IDs to each other. Help participants navigate the interface to sign each other's keys, and encourage participants to assign each other trust levels if they already know each other.
</p>
200 </div><!-- End .section-intro -->
202 <!-- ~~~~~~~~~ a div for each step ~~~~~~~~~ -->
203 <div id=
"step-4a" class=
"step">
204 <div class=
"sidebar">
205 <p><img src=
"//static.fsf.org/nosvn/enc-dev0/img/en/screenshots/section4-web-of-trust.png" alt=
"Section 4: Web of Trust"></p>
206 </div><!-- /.sidebar -->
208 <h3><em>Step
4.a
</em> Sign a key
</h3>
209 <p>In your email program's menu, go to Enigmail → Key Management.
</p>
210 <p>Right click on Edward's public key and select Sign Key from the context menu.
</p>
211 <p>In the window that pops up, select
"I will not answer" and click ok.
</p>
212 <p>Now you should be back at the Key Management menu. Select Keyserver → Upload Public Keys and hit ok.
</p>
213 <p class=
"notes">You've just effectively said
"I trust that
214 Edward's public key actually belongs to Edward." This doesn't mean much
215 because Edward isn't a real person, but it's good practice.
</p>
218 <!--<div id="pgp-pathfinder">
219 <form enctype="application/x-www-form-urlencoded" action="/mk_path.cgi" method="get">
220 <p><strong>From:</strong> <input type="text" placeholder="xD41A008" name="FROM"></p>
221 <p><strong>To:</strong> <input type="text" placeholder="50BD01x4" name="TO"></p>
222 <p class="buttons"><input type="submit" value="trust paths" name="PATHS"> <input type="reset" value="reset" name=".reset"></p>
224 </div><!-- End #pgp-pathfinder -->
226 </div><!-- End .main -->
227 </div><!-- End #step-4a .step -->
229 <!-- ~~~~~~~~~ a div for each step ~~~~~~~~~ -->
230 <div id=
"step-sign_real_keys" class=
"step">
232 <h3><em>Important:
</em> check people's identification before signing their keys
</h3>
233 <p>Before signing a real person's key, always make sure it
234 actually belongs to them, and that they are who they say they are. Ask
235 them to show you their ID (unless you trust them very highly) and their
236 public key fingerprint -- not just the shorter public key ID, which
237 could refer to another key as well. In Enigmail, answer honestly in the
238 window that pops up and asks
"How carefully have you verified that the
239 key you are about to sign actually belongs to the person(s) named
241 </div><!-- End .main -->
242 </div><!-- End #step-sign_real_keys .step-->
247 </section><!-- End #section4 -->
249 <!-- ~~~~~~~~~ Section 4: Explain The Pitfalls ~~~~~~~~~ -->
250 <section id=
"section5" class=
"row">
252 <!-- ~~~~~~~~~ section introduction: interspersed text ~~~~~~~~~ -->
253 <div class=
"section-intro">
254 <h2><em>#
4</em> Explain the pitfalls
</h2>
255 <p>Remind participants that encryption works only where it's explicitly used; they won't be able to send an encrypted email to someone who hasn't set up encrption already. Also remind them to make sure encryption is selected before hitting send. Explain metadata to the participants, and advise them to use bland-sounding subject lines.
</p>
257 <p>Advocate for free software, for without it, we can't meaningfully resist invasions of our digital privacy and autonomy. Explain the
<a href=
"http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/proprietary-surveillance.html">dangers
</a> of running a proprietary system, and why GnuPG can't begin to mitigate them.
</p>
258 </div><!-- End .section-intro -->
262 </section><!-- End #section5 -->
266 <!-- ~~~~~~~~~ Section 6: Next steps ~~~~~~~~~ -->
267 <section class=
"row" id=
"section6">
268 <div id=
"step-click_here" class=
"step">
270 <h2><a href=
"https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/en/next_steps.html">Great job! Check out the next steps.
</a></h2>
272 </div><!-- End .main -->
273 </div><!-- End #step-click_here .step-->
275 </section><!-- End #section6 -->
277 <!-- ~~~~~~~~~ FAQ ~~~~~~~~~ -->
278 <!-- When un-commenting this section go to main.css and search
279 for /* Guide Sections Background */ then add #faq to the desired color
281 <section class="row" id="faq">
283 <div class="sidebar">
289 <dt>My key expired</dt>
290 <dd>Answer coming soon.</dd>
292 <dt>Who can read encrypted messages? Who can read signed ones?</dt>
293 <dd>Answer coming soon.</dd>
295 <dt>My email program is opening at times I don't want it to open/is now my default program and I don't want it to be.</dt>
296 <dd>Answer coming soon.</dd>
300 </section> --><!-- End #faq -->
302 <!-- ~~~~~~~~~ Footer ~~~~~~~~~ -->
303 <footer class=
"row" id=
"footer">
306 <h4><a href=
"https://u.fsf.org/ys"><img alt=
"Free Software Foundation" src=
"//static.fsf.org/nosvn/enc-dev0/img/fsf-logo.png" /></a></h4>
307 <p>Copyright
© 2014-
2015 <a href=
"https://u.fsf.org/ys">Free Software Foundation
</a>, Inc.
<a href=
"https://my.fsf.org/donate/privacypolicy.html">Privacy Policy
</a>.
<a href=
"https://u.fsf.org/yr">Join.
</a></p>
308 <p><em><a href=
"http://agpl.fsf.org/emailselfdefense.fsf.org/edward/CURRENT/edward.tar.gz">Source code of Edward reply bot by Josh Drake
<zamnedix@gnu.org
> available under the GNU General Public License.
</a></em></p>
309 <p>The images on this page are under a
<a href=
"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 license (or later version)
</a>, and the rest of it is under a
<a href=
"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike
4.0 license (or later version)
</a>.
— <a href=
"http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#OtherLicenses">Why these licenses?
</a></p>
310 <p>Download the source package for
<a href=
"emailselfdefense_source.zip">this guide
</a>. Fonts used in the guide
& infographic:
<a href=
"https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Dosis">Dosis
</a> by Pablo Impallari,
<a href=
"http://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Signika">Signika
</a> by Anna Giedry
ś,
<a href=
"http://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Archivo+Narrow">Archivo Narrow
</a> by Omnibus-Type,
<a href=
"http://www.thegopherarchive.com/gopher-files-hacks-pxl2000-119351.htm">PXL-
2000</a> by Florian Cramer.
</p>
312 <a href=
"//weblabels.fsf.org/emailselfdefense.fsf.org/"
314 JavaScript license information
317 </div><!-- /#copyright -->
319 Infographic and guide design by
<a rel=
"external" href=
"http://jplusplus.org"><strong>Journalism++
</strong> <img src=
"//static.fsf.org/nosvn/enc-dev0/img/jplusplus.png" alt=
"Journalism++" /></a>
320 </p><!-- /.credits -->
322 </footer><!-- End #footer -->
324 <script src=
"//static.fsf.org/nosvn/enc-dev0/js/jquery-1.11.0.min.js"></script>
325 <script src=
"//static.fsf.org/nosvn/enc-dev0/js/scripts.js"></script>
328 <script type=
"text/javascript">
330 @licstart The following is the entire license notice for the
331 JavaScript code in this page.
333 Copyright
2014 Matthieu Aubry
335 This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
336 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
337 the Free Software Foundation, either version
3 of the License, or
338 (at your option) any later version.
340 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
341 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
342 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
343 GNU General Public License for more details.
345 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
346 along with this program. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.
348 @licend The above is the entire license notice
349 for the JavaScript code in this page.
351 var _paq = _paq || [];
352 _paq.push([
"setDocumentTitle", document.domain +
"/" + document.title]);
353 _paq.push([
"setCookieDomain",
"*.www.fsf.org"]);
354 _paq.push([
"setDomains", [
"*.www.fsf.org",
"*.www.fsf.org"]]);
355 _paq.push([
"trackPageView"]);
356 _paq.push([
"enableLinkTracking"]);
359 var u=((
"https:" == document.location.protocol) ?
"https" :
"http") +
"://piwik.fsf.org/";
360 _paq.push([
"setTrackerUrl", u+
"piwik.php"]);
361 _paq.push([
"setSiteId",
"5"]);
362 var d=document, g=d.createElement(
"script"), s=d.getElementsByTagName(
"script")[
0]; g.
type=
"text/javascript";
363 g.defer=true; g.async=true; g.src=u+
"piwik.js"; s.parentNode.insertBefore(g,s);
366 <!-- End Piwik Code -->