Google released its E2EMail Encryption code to open source last week, which is expected to give a fillip to the open source technology. Open source will accelerate Google’s progress in E2EMail encryption. Google commenced its E2EMail project one year back with the aim of launching a Chrome app that would facilitate easy exchange of private emails. The project allowed the integration of OpenPGP into Gmail, which was attained using a Chrome extension that improved usability. The E2EMail is developed on an open source JavaScript crypto library built by Google itself.
What’s different in the open source E2EMail encryption?
The previous versions of E2EMail were text-only and supported only PGP/MIME messages. The introduction of open source allows E2EMail functionality to use its own keyserver. Releasing the project to open source allows the encryption application to utilize Google’s Key Transparency Initiative, which is specially designed for cryptographic key lookups. This will simplify public key lookups at Internet scale and boosts the adoption of OpenPGP. Google’s Key Transparency feature will give a considerable impetus to E2EMail project.
Who will benefit?
The open source system will benefit the secure messaging systems and help developers overcome the disadvantages of PGP. Google’s Key Transparency is a scalable, practical solution, which empowers users to address the usability challenges. With Google open sourcing the E2EMail encryption project, the code will not remain proprietary to Google. This fosters community collaboration improving the quality of work and promises a robust chrome extension that would seamlessly facilitate end-to-end Gmail encryption.
End-to-end email encryption is a great challenge and hence open sourcing the project will invite more eyes to look at it. Critics even comment that Google’s lack of interest forced the giant to open source the encryption project. However, it is difficult to identify the actual reason behind the decision.
It is a known fact that more than half of the messages traversing through the internet are unencrypted. A resilient and sturdy technology is necessary to secure everything from bank statements to password and PIN resets. The vast open source community can certainly bring a positive change to enable E2EMail encryption.
Related Posts:
- Google Chrome for iOS is now open source
- How Open Source Technology Trends will Change Enterprises in 2017
