#6 Next steps

You've now completed the basics of email encryption with GnuPG, taking action against bulk surveillance. A pat on the back to you! These next steps will help make the most of the work you did today.

Join the movement

You've just taken a huge step towards protecting your privacy online. But each of us acting alone isn't enough. To topple bulk surveillance, we need to build a movement for the autonomy and freedom of all computer users. Join the Free Software Foundation's community to meet like-minded people and work together for change:


Join us on microblogging services for day-to-day updates:

GNU Social | Pump.io | Twitter

Read why GNU Social and Pump.io are better than Twitter.

Get your friends involved

Before you close this guide, use our sharing page to compose a message to a few friends and ask them to join you in using encrypted email. Remember to include your GnuPG public key ID so they can easily download your key.

Protect more of your digital life

Learn surveillance-resistant technologies for instant messages, hard drive storage, online sharing and more at the Free Software Directory's Privacy Pack and prism-break.org.

If you are using Windows, Mac OS or any other proprietary operating system, the biggest single step you can make is to switch to a free software operating system like GNU/Linux. This will make it much harder for attackers to enter your computer through hidden back doors. Check out the Free Software Foundation's endorsed versions of GNU/Linux.

Make Email Self-Defense tools even better

Leave feedback and suggest improvements to this guide. We welcome translations, but we ask that you contact us at campaigns@fsf.org before you start, so that we can connect you with other translators working in your language.

If you like programming, you can contribute code to GnuPG or Enigmail.

To go the extra mile, support the Free Software Foundation so we can promote Email Self-Defense as heavily as possible, and make more tools like it.

Donate Join now