Tech Learning Collective

Technology education for radical organizers and revolutionary communities.

  • December 6, 2020 4:00 PM (-0500) December 6, 2020 5:30 PM
  • Remote
  • Status: CONFIRMED

Tickets are no longer available for this event.

View upcoming events or subscribe to our events calendar to make sure you catch the next one.

Event description

This workshop shows you how to keep your emails private regardless of what email provider you use. By learning how to use the freely and widely available Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) cryptosystem in email, you will see how easy it is to not only encrypt messages so that they remain confidential, but also how to make sure the emails you get were really sent by the people they claim to be from. Once you’re able to verify the sender of email you receive, you’re far less likely to get caught up in an email phishing scam ever again.

Workshop Description

As one of the oldest digital communication methods, email is used for everything from pointless chain letters to critical financial statements and legal actions. The name “e-mail” might make you think that electronic mail works the same way that writing a physical letter does, but this isn’t entirely true. From a technical perspective, it’s more like “e-postcards” because, just like sending a postcard through the postal service, anyone who handles your postcard can read what you wrote.

In the physical world, protecting your correspondence requires you to take the extra step of putting your letter inside an envelope and then sealing the envelope. That way, no one looking at the outside of the envelope can read what you wrote on the letter paper. To protect your email in the digital world, you still have to take this extra step of putting your letter inside a metaphorical envelope. Some services, like ProtonMail, claim to do this for you, but fail to do so in many common scenarios. Meanwhile, many people believe that just using Google’s GMail service means all your email content is always readable by Google, but this isn’t always true either.

This workshop will demystify the nuance of email privacy and security. By using freely available OpenPGP-compatible software, which has been available since 1991, the Tech Learning Collective’s cybersecurity instructors will show you how you can keep your message contents private regardless of the email service provider you use. Never send paperwork with your social security number or other sensitive details on a digital postcard to your lawyer or accountant ever again!

As this is a remote/online-only event, there is no physical class space, but attendance is still limited to 15 students, so purchase your ticket now to reserve your spot.

To participate in our webinars, you will need access to a modern Web browser such as an up-to-date copy of Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome. You will also need a reliable Internet connection. We recommend disabling Wi-Fi and plugging your computer in to a hard-wired Ethernet network cable for the duration of the webinar, if possible.

If you would like to share your video screen or appear on camera, you will need to have and activate your own camera, such as the one built-in to many modern laptops. Similarly, to speak with the rest of the webinar participants, you will need a microphone. If you do choose to activate your microphone, we ask that you please plug in headphones/ear buds or use a headset in order to help reduce audio feedback loops that can degrade the webinar experience for other participants.

Please refer to our workshops and webinars FAQ for additional tips and advice before you join the video conference.

As with all Tech Learning Collective events, racism, queerphobia, transphobia, sexism, “brogrammer,” “manarchist,” or any kind of similarly awful behavior will result in immediate removal from class without a refund. Please refer to our lightweight social rules for details on our strictly enforced no-tolerance policy against bigotry of any kind.

About Tech Learning Collective

Tech Learning Collective is an apprenticeship-based technology school that trains politically self-motivated individuals in the arts of hypermedia, Information Technology, and radical political practice. We offer unparalleled free, by-donation, and low-cost computer classes on topics ranging from fundamental computer literacy to the same offensive computer hacking techniques used by national intelligence agencies and military powers (cyber armies). For more information and to enroll, visit TechLearningCollective.com.

Performances by

Presented by