A Pretty Good Paper about Pretty Good Privacy.

With today's growth in the use of electronic information systems for e-mail, data development and research, and the relative ease of access to such resources, protecting one's data and correspondence has become a great concern. "Pretty Good Privacy" (PGP), an encryption program developed by Phil Zimmermann, may be the software tool that will provide a person with a secure method to keep mail, manuscripts, and data private. PGP uses a two-key method of encryption. With PGP, a person gives out their public key to all who might send them encrypted messages. The person's private key, which they do not divulge, is then the only key that can access the encrypted messages, so information is secure. This paper contains detailed installation instructions, basic features and strengths of using PGP for e-mail purposes, and information on where and how to obtain current versions of the public domain PGP software. (Author/SWC)