Depends on what you are encrypting and how but they can work very well.
For example, WhatsApp encrypts. Facebook was ordered by the Brazilian supreme court to decrypt messages from some bad guy. The problem that the courts REFUSED to understand is that Facebook can't. The secret key used to encrypt and decrypt is known by the parties doing the messaging. A middle man like Facebook CAN'T decrypt it. The various legal system are highly highly upset about this. Well too bad. Encryption is here to stay. And never trust any system that has a back door. The bad guys will crack that and use it themselves better then the good guys.
If you’re thinking about encrypting email in light of revelations about U.S. government spying, you may be wasting your time.
Recent leaks about surveillance efforts by the secretive National Security Agency have sparked a wide range of questions during the last week over online privacy, or lack thereof, as well as possible violations of the Constitution. But at this stage, the exact methods employed by the nation’s top intelligence agencies to gather information in the interest of national security are still fuzzy.
At the very least, the NSA has confirmed that it is collecting Verizon phone records to examine their metadata and analyze call patterns between people. The NSA’s Prism system apparently goes even further, reportedly accessing servers at Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and other major companies, to collect data that the agency is storing for possible surveillance and investigations.
Answers & Comments
Depends on what you are encrypting and how but they can work very well.
For example, WhatsApp encrypts. Facebook was ordered by the Brazilian supreme court to decrypt messages from some bad guy. The problem that the courts REFUSED to understand is that Facebook can't. The secret key used to encrypt and decrypt is known by the parties doing the messaging. A middle man like Facebook CAN'T decrypt it. The various legal system are highly highly upset about this. Well too bad. Encryption is here to stay. And never trust any system that has a back door. The bad guys will crack that and use it themselves better then the good guys.
who cares - there are many free encryption programs available just as good as those the services use.
And using your own program you can encrypt an already encrypted file with a second encryption key
If you’re thinking about encrypting email in light of revelations about U.S. government spying, you may be wasting your time.
Recent leaks about surveillance efforts by the secretive National Security Agency have sparked a wide range of questions during the last week over online privacy, or lack thereof, as well as possible violations of the Constitution. But at this stage, the exact methods employed by the nation’s top intelligence agencies to gather information in the interest of national security are still fuzzy.
At the very least, the NSA has confirmed that it is collecting Verizon phone records to examine their metadata and analyze call patterns between people. The NSA’s Prism system apparently goes even further, reportedly accessing servers at Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and other major companies, to collect data that the agency is storing for possible surveillance and investigations.