From: "James A. Donald" <jamesd@echeque.com>
Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 07:04:29 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: PGP...
Message-ID: <199608131531.IAA19761@dns1.noc.best.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 12:39 PM 8/13/96 +0100, sasa.roskar@uni-lj.si wrote:
> I'm confused.... if you don't want people to be able to read your
> email, you code it with PGP or other encoders... but why give away
> your key on your website to everyone? That makes your email readable
> to everyone... doesn't it? Oh well... I hope someone can explain this
> to me...

Public keys and private keys:

Private key only you know,  Public key everybody knows.

You use private key to sign, you use the other guys 
public key to encrypt, so that no one but him can read
the message, not even you, unless you kept the original
copy.

Public key does not decrypt.

Other guy uses his private key to decrypt the message you sent
him.

What one man knows, nobody knows, what two men know, everyone
knows.  If you had to share keys in order to communicate, the
keys would not stay secret very long.

Public key encrypts and verifies signature.  Private key encrypts
and signs.
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
              				|  
We have the right to defend ourselves	|   http://www.jim.com/jamesd/
and our property, because of the kind	|  
of animals that we are. True law	|   James A. Donald
derives from this right, not from the	|  
arbitrary power of the state.		|   jamesd@echeque.com