‘Google wants to make it easier to use pgp in Gmail’

Google wants to make it easier for Gmail users to send encrypted messages. The search giant is said to be considering integrating various encryption options, including pgp, into the mail service.

Internally, the American company is said to be investigating the possibility of integrating support for pgp into Gmail, VentureBeat reports on the basis of an anonymous source. The biggest stumbling block would be user-friendliness. Exactly how Google would like to integrate pgp, and whether it will retain the ability to scan emails for advertising purposes, is unknown.

Pgp works with a combination of public and private keys. The public key can be shared with anyone, which often goes through public key servers. The public key can be used to encrypt a message, this message can then only be decrypted by the person who has the corresponding private key.

The initiative to integrate pgp into Gmail is said to have been prompted by the revelations of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Various organizations around pgp have previously reported increasing interest, for example the number of daily uploads to the SKS key server pool rose sharply last year.