The guy behind GPG, Ed Snowden's favorite email encryption tool is going broke

In 1997, Werner Koch attended a talk by free software evangelist Richard Stallman. Stallman urged the crowd to write their own version of existing encryption software. Inspired, Koch decided to try, and created GNU Privacy Guard (GPG). "I figured I can do it," he recalled. (Willi Nothers for ProPublica)


In 1997, Werner Koch attended a talk by free software evangelist Richard Stallman. Stallman urged the crowd to write their own version of existing encryption software. Inspired, Koch decided to try. "I figured I can do it," he recalled. (Willi Nothers for ProPublica)

"The man who built the free email encryption software used by whistleblower Edward Snowden, as well as hundreds of thousands of journalists, dissidents and security-minded people around the world, is running out of money to keep his project alive."

A ProPublica story by Julia Angwin that's getting a lot of attention today around the 'net, and for good reason. "The World's Email Encryption Software Relies on One Guy, Who is Going Broke."

Here's how to help: you can donate here to keep the project alive.