[liberationtech] 15 years later, why can't Johnny still not encrypt?

[Anders Thoresson]

Hi all!

When doing research on email encryption and why it's still not widely used, I've read Alma Whittens "Why Johnny Can’t Encrypt: A Usability Evaluation of PGP 5.0" [1] from '99. I wonder if anyone knows of similar but more recent usability studies on encryption software? 

Comparing the findings made by Whittens and compare them to the software available today, not much seems to have happened. But does the conclusion still holds, that a lack of mass-adoption of email encryption is due to problematic UX – or are there other reasons that today are seen as more important?

[1] – https://www.usenix.org/legacy/events/sec99/full_papers/whitten/whitten.ps

Best regards,
Anders Thoresson
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