In my small business I need to encrypt maybe 1 out of 20 email that I send. I don’t have an IT dept. The benefit I want is to send the email from my computer, to the receiving computer, and I want the receiver to be able to open my message without installing special software. I spent weeks trying different solutions, and finally just began encrypting files in zip format. Then I found Messagelock (http://www.encryptomatic.com) which encrypts my Outlook email and attachments into a zip file. Anyone with Winzip installed can access the contents of my message, without special software.

For anyone who’s got a small shop but who needs to get a message from A to B securely, check out MessageLock. For me it provides 98% of the benefit that I need, with about 1/100th of the hassle of PGP.

In my small business I need to encrypt maybe 1 out of 20 email that I send. I don’t have an IT dept. The benefit I want is to send the email from my computer, to the receiving computer, and I want the receiver to be able to open my message without installing special software. I spent weeks trying different solutions, and finally just began encrypting files in zip format. Then I found Messagelock (http://www.encryptomatic.com) which encrypts my Outlook email and attachments into a zip file. Anyone with Winzip installed can access the contents of my message, without special software.

For anyone who’s got a small shop but who needs to get a message from A to B securely, check out MessageLock. For me it provides 98% of the benefit that I need, with about 1/100th of the hassle of PGP.

I think your thoughts on losing availablility of the data is very important, and I imagine there might be a solution for that, i.e. perhaps storing a copy with a special token that can open the content.

But yeah, it’s not worth sacrificing availability for a bit of confidentiality. If they do it wrong it could go real bad, but like I said — the chances are very good that there’s going to be a backdoor of some sort to protect availability.

I think your thoughts on losing availablility of the data is very important, and I imagine there might be a solution for that, i.e. perhaps storing a copy with a special token that can open the content.

But yeah, it’s not worth sacrificing availability for a bit of confidentiality. If they do it wrong it could go real bad, but like I said — the chances are very good that there’s going to be a backdoor of some sort to protect availability.

What about, in 2015, your corporate archives that were protected in 2005 by using DRM (which was never removed because, why would you if you put it on in the first place?) that you can no longer access? Unfortunately, that includes your only copy of the lease agreement and the terms of renewal because all your physical documents were destroyed in a fire in 2010.

DRM is a solution looking for a problem. The big supporters are the media companies that want to clip your ticket again and again. Think about the syuff you’d be ‘protecting’ – is it worth the risk of not being able to get at it?

What about, in 2015, your corporate archives that were protected in 2005 by using DRM (which was never removed because, why would you if you put it on in the first place?) that you can no longer access? Unfortunately, that includes your only copy of the lease agreement and the terms of renewal because all your physical documents were destroyed in a fire in 2010.

DRM is a solution looking for a problem. The big supporters are the media companies that want to clip your ticket again and again. Think about the syuff you’d be ‘protecting’ – is it worth the risk of not being able to get at it?

Did I miss something?

Did I miss something?