Bonum Certa Men Certa

Guarding Your Privacy With E2EE: Primer

End-to-end encryption deciphered

Lock and Key



Summary: "As with all security, there is assumed risk no matter how careful you are. There are no security guarantees but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try."

End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is something that's been in the news quite frequently. Lack of education about E2EE is being exploited. Your fundamental human rights are being violated. This article serves to educate the non-technical person about E2EE and how it affects their everyday life.



Let us get a few fundamental things clarified, first. Without these basic things, no proper discussion can happen around E2EE.

"Another important thing to note is that the sender sees the data that will be encrypted in its unencrypted form anyway. Obvious statement but important to remember."What is E2EE? E2EE is a system in which data is encrypted so that only one party can decrypt the data: the intended recipient(s).

Note that we used the word "system" in our definition for E2EE. This is done to keep the scope of this article separate from any specific E2EE software.

Another important thing to note is that the sender sees the data that will be encrypted in its unencrypted form anyway. Obvious statement but important to remember.

Next, let us note articles 12 and 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

LockArticle 12 UDHR: "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks."

Article 19 UDHR: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

We'll refer to these as A12UDHR and A19UDHR, from now on.

We've now established some fundamental definitions; we can move on to what all this means in the context of E2EE.

Let's now connect what A12UDHR and A19UDHR have to do with E2EE.

A12UDHR mentions privacy. Our data privacy is a form of privacy. Thus, according to A12UDR, every human being has a fundamental right to data privacy. The only way we can achieve data privacy is via E2EE.

"The only way we can achieve data privacy is via E2EE."A19UDHR mentions the freedom to hold opinions WITHOUT INTERFERENCE and to seek and impart INFORMATION and ideas THROUGH ANY MEDIA (we're paraphrasing here to highlight information relevant to this article). Thus, according to A19UDHR, every human being has a right to exchange INFORMATION THROUGH ANY MEDIA. End-to-end-encrypted data (E2EED) is a form of information; thus A19UDHR gives every human being a right to seek and impart E2EED over any medium they wish.

So, in summary, we've established the following as an inalienable right of every human being:

Every human being has a fundamental right to use E2EE and seek and impart E2EED over any medium they wish (Internet, printed documents, etc.).

Now it's time to consider the technical side.

If you go back to our definition of E2EE, you will see that there are strict requirements about who can decrypt E2EED.

Many platforms (email, social control media, messaging apps, etc.) advertise E2EE. They are pretty much all not E2EE. Why? They have the keys that can decrypt your data. Go back and read the definition of E2EE again.

What are these "keys"? Good question.

Every system of E2EE is basically built on the idea of a pair of keys:

"Many platforms (email, social control media, messaging apps, etc.) advertise E2EE. They are pretty much all not E2EE."Public Key (PKEY): Just a file. A sort of identifier. PKEYs are used in E2EE to encrypt data so that only the intended recipient(s) can decrypt the encrypted data.

Secret Key (SKEY): Just a file. This is the (only) file which can be used to decrypt the encrypted data.

There exists a mathematical relationship between a PKEY and a SKEY which makes it infeasible to decrypt the encrypted data without access to the recipient's SKEY. When used correctly, E2EED is safe even from the quantum computers of today.

You can refer to the end of this article for the technical details.

"You can willingly forfeit your privacy (and many do by accepting "Terms and Conditions" of various platforms and services) but no body has a right to forcibly take away your privacy."The easiest way to decrypt E2EED is to get a hold of the recipient's SKEY or to catch the pre-encrypted data via some sort of back door in the device being used to encrypt the data. The problem is, many organisations already have your SKEY; they keep a copy for themselves, when SKEY has been generated. So, these systems don't actually satisfy our definition of E2EE.

Remember: You have a fundamental right to end-to-end encryption. You have a fundamental right to keep the secret keys used for your end-to-end encryption software private. Nobody has the right to take these secret keys away from you - no company, no government, no individual, no organisation. You can willingly forfeit your privacy (and many do by accepting "Terms and Conditions" of various platforms and services) but no body has a right to forcibly take away your privacy.

"Complain to your local government representative about the attacks on E2EE."There have been repeated attempts (and will continue to be repeated attempts) to outlaw end-to-end encryption. Governments want to spy on citizens; companies want to spy on individuals to profit off their private data; organisations want private data of individuals to make discriminatory decisions about said individuals. All of these actions have negative consequences on individuals: psychological abuse, economic discrimination, racial discrimination, political discrimination, exploitative psychological advertising (the list goes on and on).

So what can you do about this? You can raise awareness, first of all. Complain to your local government representative about the attacks on E2EE. You can educate yourself about which software gives you full control over your secret keys.

"Note that operating systems and devices have constantly had back doors installed into them."Here's a list of software you can look up which gives users control over their secret keys:

1) GnuPG and Kleopatra (GNU/Linux, BSD, OSX)

2) Gpg4win and Kleopatra (Windows)

3) OpenKeychain (Mobile)

There are many books, videos, and tutorials about the tools above. They're a good point to start with.

Note that operating systems and devices have constantly had back doors installed into them. The best way to use E2EE software is to have a separate device for performing all E2EE tasks; said device should never be connected to the Internet. This is too inconvenient for some but is worth considering for those who want added level of security.

A note on hardware security tokens: Don't believe in them. Most of them are likely to have back doors in them which allow extraction of your secret keys. Use an ordinary, general-purpose computer for all E2EE tasks; preferably one that never sees the Internet. Old laptops make great E2EE machines; just turn off the WIFI and don't plug in any Ethernet cable. Devices like the Raspberry Pi are also a good candidate for an affordable system exclusively used for E2EE. You can use these devices with an HDMI cable, keyboard+mouse, and a USB stick to move data to and from the device.

Does all your data need to be E2EED? Of course not. That would be overkill. But data that you think needs to be private should be private. So use E2EE software to protect your privacy, when you see fit. This includes pictures, videos, legal documents, files containing passwords, etc.

"Old laptops make great E2EE machines; just turn off the WIFI and don't plug in any Ethernet cable."Remember: E2EE is a system in which data is encrypted so that ONLY ONE party can decrypt the data: intended recipient(s). Any system which doesn't satisfy this definition is not E2EE; don't let governments, companies, etc. convenience you otherwise.

Technical details



Say J wants to send a file F to M; J wants to encrypt F so that only M can decrypt F. We'll refer to the encrypted form of F as EF.

What would J need to do?

We'll establish a few more definitions (sorry about this but it's necessary to maintain correctness).

J and M both have keys.

E2EE software : S.

Public key of J : JPKEY Secret key of J : JSKEY

Public key of M : MPKEY Secret key of M : MSKEY

(1) J and M both use S to generate their respective key files (JPKEY, JSKEY, MPKEY, MSKEY).

(2) J needs MPKEY in order to encrypt F for M.

(3) M sends J: MPKEY, in advance (this can be done over any media as MPKEY is not required to remain private).

(4) J now has the following: S, JSKEY, MPKEY, F. J can use these to obtain EF.

(5) J sends EF to M.

(6) M now has the following: MSKEY, S, EF.

(7) M can use these to obtain F from EF.

All of the above can be done with only one person. In, that case J = M. This is when you want E2EED that is "for your eyes only".

RSA and EDDSA are considered the most secure systems for E2EE today (2020). The major weak points in any E2EE are: human error, hardware and software backdoors, hardware and software bugs. E2EE is always evolving, so what you read today may not be true tomorrow.

As with all security, there is assumed risk no matter how careful you are. There are no security guarantees but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try.

Be wary of any body that gives you guarantees.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Wayland is About Less Choice, About Removing Choices, It's Not About Freedom
IBM insists that it cares about "diversity"
Keeping Things Accessible
Gemini Protocol seems to be growing
Not Much Better Than LLM Slop: Linux Foundation-Funded 'News' Site Writes Linux Foundation 'News', Composed by Linux Foundation Operative, Quoting Linux Foundation Staff
...they get paid (sponsored) to produce this spam. Then they call it "journalism".
Annual Southern California Linux Expo (SCALE 22x) 'Bought' by Microsoft and Microsoft Exceeded Sponsorship Limits by Giving Double the Maximum Permitted Amount
When people get bribed they tend to forget how to utter a simple word: "No."
EPO Examiners Point Out to the Heads of Delegations in the Administrative Council of the EPO That the "AI Policy" of the Office is Illegal
"the Central Staff Committee (CSC) asks the Administrative Council to exert its supervisory role and instruct EPO management to enter into genuine dialogue with the staff representation on the AI Policy, to revise the “Leverage AI” target of 90% AI-automated classification in the SP2028 and to put in place the measures supported by staff in the resolution."
French Cities Dumping Microsoft Because They Recognise Software Freedom, Open Standards, GNU/Linux Autonomy
We hope that more French cities - maybe Paris - will follow Lyon.
 
Links 27/06/2025: Journalists Under Fire and Microsoft Has Serious Slop Problems
Links for the day
X is Dying, But Not XServer/X11. Twitter X.com is Dying.
People or businesses or government officials (and departments) that still rely on Social Control Media are playing Russian Roulette with their future online
Escaping Colonialism (or 'Hegemony') Requires Abandoning GAFAM, Microsoft in Particular
Europe is already in the process of abandoning Microsoft
Microsoft Will Shut Down More Studios This Week, Its Media Operatives Will Tell Lies About the Magnitude of the Shutdowns and Layoffs (They Always Do)
Many people who get counted as "workforce" are "temps" or similar
What Linux Foundation 'Research' is: Paid Marketing
What is Linux Foundation 'Research'?
No, IBM Does Not Care About People With Disabilities
"Aktion T4" did not seem to bother Watson
Microsoft's Financial Problems Mean Shutdowns, Not Just Mass Layoffs
If the original rumour is true, then expect almost 30,000 Microsoft workers to be let go this year
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 26, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, June 26, 2025
The Netherlands: GNU/Linux Measured at All-Time High
Are any Dutch cities going to announce dumping Microsoft?
Gemini Links 27/06/2025: "Interstitial Existence" and Autocorrect
Links for the day
Technical People Need Technical Lawyers
Technical Litigants in Person (LIPs) have many real and concrete advantages
10,000+ Articles in About 20 Months (and How We Got Here)
More bloat does not beget efficiency and "bells and whistles" tend to have a hidden cost
Links 26/06/2025: Illegal Kangaroo Court (UPC) Failing Scandinavia, K-Pop Agencies Abuse People
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/06/2025: AuraGem Twitch Proxy is Back and UI Sluggishness
Links for the day
LWN is a Voice of GAFAM (Through Linux Foundation, Their Front Group or Occupying Force Inside Linux)
remember who the chief editor works for and who sponsors many of the articles
Links 26/06/2025: Noise Pollution Considered High in Europe, Mass Layoffs Next Week in Microsoft Confirmed, Very Large in Scale and Scope
Links for the day
The 'Case' of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft is a Lot of Copypasta (Maybe Also LLM Slop) From the Matthew Garrett 'Case'
5RB deserves to know and the matter shall be properly reported in due course (when the time is right)
EPO Squeezing the Staff - Part II - Office Breaks Rules, Ignores Courts, Defies Justice
False promises everywhere
No, I Don't Want Your Latest XYZ, ThankYouVeryMuch...
Wayland is finally ready?
China Keeps Breaking Into Microsoft Systems, So for True Sovereignty, Nations Wary of China Need to Dump Microsoft
Looking at data from Taiwan (not China) and Maharlika (not Philippines, the king is dead and Spain is out), there are encouraging signs
Linux Journal Wants Ads on Its LLM Slop or Ads as 'Articles'
it's basically another BetaNews
How to Kill a Monopoly
in 10 simple steps
IBM - Like Microsoft - is a Dying Company and Perishing Brand ("AI" is a Lie and Decoy)
"Arvind is cutting costs (layoffs, PIPs, forced RTO, etc...) like crazy. IBM offices are closing all over the place in the US."
"Code of Conduct" Invoked When Fedora and Red Hat Users (Since the 1990s) Don't Want to Use Wayland
That is IBM "DEI"
Mozambique: GNU/Linux Rose From 0.5% Last Year to 3% This Year
what (or how) statCounter is measuring
Microsoft Layoffs Next Week: About 10% to be Laid Off in Microsoft Gaming (2 Days Before Independence Day), About 20%+ of XBox Staff
Microsoft is rapidly collapsing
Next Month Marks 11 Years Since Our In-Depth EPO Coverage
The same is happening to Microsoft right now
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Campaigns Against Vista 11, Adds 4 New Associate Members Per Day
If more people understood the underlying principles, more of them would flock to Free software overnight
Canonical Seems to Have Culled Some Sources of LLM Slop From Planet Ubuntu
It's like "junk food", it's not information
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 25, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 25, 2025
On "Weak Claims"
For the record, they sent me unjustified threats, repeatedly tried injunctions (censorship)
EPO Squeezing the Staff - Part I - Burnout and Family Health
more exceptional circumstances
This Month's Mail (MX) Server Survey Shows Microsoft at 0.20% "Market Share"
We need to remind people that desktops and laptops decline (in proportion to other client devices) and at the "back end" GNU/Linux is already dominant and has long been dominant
Links 26/06/2025: Filespooler Guide and Learning to Code
Links for the day
Why Techrights Cannot be Vilified (and Instead It Gets SLAPPed Repeatedly by Microsoft People)
Attack dogs are all "bark"; because they have no actual "bite"
Austrian GNU/Linux Usage Up to About 5% as More of Europe Abandons Microsoft
Since inauguration day the Austrian people have adopted more and more of GNU/Linux
Why the "Wayland People" and "Rust People" Will Lose Hearts and Minds (Same Reasons)
Wayland pushers are fast becoming like "Rust People"
5,600 Pages/Articles Per Year
So far this year we've kept all the promises
BetaNews Beginning to Show What Its True Goals Are
The 'new' BetaNews won't be about journalism. It's trying to sell things.
Microsoft Has Lost "The War"
We'll soon see the 9th or 10th wave of Microsoft layoffs in 2025 alone
Slopwatch: A Wreck and a Dreck, "Flooding the Zone With Dreck" or Flooding the Web With Junk
"Slopwatch" continues today because we have many new examples
Links 25/06/2025: Thwarting More Software Patents, Overlap Grows Between EPO Corruption and Illegal Kangaroo Patent Courts in EU
Links for the day
Links 25/06/2025: Elon Musk’s Lawyers Caught Lying, WhatsApp Faces More Bans
Links for the day
Wayland Pushers Lose the Argument, Use LLM Slop and Chatbots to Make Up Arguments for IBM
Another new low and low blow
Brian Fagioli Created Another Slopfarm Targeting "Linux" After BetaNews Became a Slopfarm of Phantom Accounts and Pseudonyms
Mr. Fagioli even had slop about a dead Torvalds (hypothetical) as clickbait
Wayland is Perfect, Nobody Can Escape Its Perfection! (Or Not)
Do not form on opinion on Wayland based on politics
What is "MATA"?
Think of it as GAFAM or "Meta"
Moral Duty for "Linux Sites" to Speak Out Against LLM Slop
My wife has long complained about "Linux bloggers" keeping quiet and thus passive about a growing problem: slop
In Recent Hours Google News Promoted at Least 3 Slopfarms That Relayed Linux Foundation Propaganda Made by Bots or LLM "Bullshit Generators" (as Dr. Stallman Dubbed Them)
Google is circling down the drain and Google News too is hopeless
Linux Journal is a Slopfarm, It's Experimenting With LLM 'Authors'
Is Slashdot next?
WebProNews is a Slopfarm
Please avoid linking to WebProNews
Microsoft LinkedIn is Dying and Many More Layoffs Are on the Way
LinkedIn is just a failed acquisition of Microsoft. It causes losses and debt.
Gemini Links 25/06/2025: Combinatorial Music and Self Hosting
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Coming Back to Europe This Autumn to Give More Talks
His last talk in Europe attracted about 400-450 people
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 24, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Social Control Media, Technology & Catholicism: Synod on Synodality review and feedback
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
How Many More Women Will Managers at Microsoft Strangle and Tell to Kill Themselves (or Try to Kill)?
The world needs to know what happened
The New BetaNews: 7 New 'Articles', All of Them LLM Slop
BetaNews is basically defunct. Nobody writes there anymore.
Another "Told You So!": XBox Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (Many Recent Reports Were Chaff and Spin), Many Other Divisions Affected
With mass layoffs at Microsoft the world would be much better