Why use encryption for emails if you have to share the public key?

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Why would you use something like PGP if you have to send your encryption key unencrypted to the party you are sending to? And if you leave this key out on something like Twitter for example, couldn’t law enforcement or a third party if they gained access to the other persons email still read the contents of the encrypted email by using this key? Doesn’t this defeate the purpose of using encryption?

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33 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Think of it like a public drop box. Anyone can drop stuff into the drop box. This is the public key part of it. But once it’s been dropped into the box only the person with the private key to the drop box can unlock it and get to the contents inside. Handing out the public key is basically letting everyone know where your drop box is.

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