Ask HN: Why aren't there more PGP/GPG fields in sign up forms?

Posted by achalkley on Tuesday February 11, 2014 @08:41PM
from the ask-hn dept.

In light recent revelations why aren't more people including PGP or GPG fields in their sign up forms. If there was a push more people would look in to it and use it?

( 2 comments | 6 points | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: Why aren't there more PGP/GPG fields in sign up f... by chewxy on Tuesday February 11, 2014 @09:28PM (#7222138)

Because it's difficult. Count how many steps it takes to generate a public key (opening a terminal window counts as one, answering each gpg question counts as one, moving your mouse counts as one).

And then there is the fact that your private key is in files, which risk being lost. If you use a keyserver, you have to go find a keyserver to use. Also, some people (myself included) like to have multiple identities, hence multiple publick keys.

It's hell to manage for us hackers, what more your SixPack Joe who has never even touched a command prompt in his life.

What I want to see is something truly unintrusive to use. I like OS X's keychain concept, but I cannot ever bring myself to trust keychain with my private keys.

p/s: I have a public key in my blog. Guess how many times I've received an encrypted email from my blog enquiry? Zero. Everyone uses plaintext instead.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Why aren't there more PGP/GPG fields in sign up f... by JamieLewis on Tuesday February 11, 2014 @11:14PM (#7222442)

I was bored so I found the public key and your blog and sent you an email :) So that Zero can be a One now.

By the way, the public key on your blog is not very copy and paste friendly - I had to redo the armoring.

But yeah, it is no where near as easy at it should be.

[ Parent | on HN ]