Quote from: flicky42 on October 29, 2012, 04:36 amSo we do we use GPG if there is no exit node? No. The encryption between Tor nodes is like SSL, in the sense that public keys are used. Unlike SSL, there is no visible evidence of this (i.e. no padlock icon). Like SSL, it is pretty-much transparent to the end user. It s like an automatic transmission in a car -- you don't have to worry about how the car shifts gears when needed, you just have to accept that it does -- it just works in the background. GPG is used on here for 3 things: - To encrypt PMs sent to other users on the system- To encrypt address information sent to a vendor- By DPR, when he PGP clear-signs a message, so everyone can verify that the message is genuine, and not forged. The entire point of using GPG on here (and the Silk Road site proper) is to protect against unauthorized access to your data. In most cases, that is your address data. If either Silk Road, or the Forum were ever to be hacked, or worse yet, seized by the authorities, then GPG encryption would prevent the authorities from accessing that encrypted information. That is the primary use for it on here -- for privacy. If you encrypt your PMs, then no one except the intended recipient can read them, not the mods, not the Admins, not the authorities, no one. That's why the use of GPG is encouraged here. Quote from: flicky42 on October 29, 2012, 04:36 amHmm it seems I know much less about how all this works than I thought.Some of this stuff _is_ a bit esoteric.