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itemprop="headline" content="About"> <meta itemprop="description" content="About OpenPGP"> <meta itemprop="dateModified" content="2024-09-29T16:26:16+00:00"> <div class="page__inner-wrap"> <header> <h1 id="page-title" class="page__title" itemprop="headline"> <a href="https://www.openpgp.org/about/" itemprop="url">About </a> </h1> </header> <section class="page__content" itemprop="text"> <p>OpenPGP is a non-proprietary format for authenticating or encrypting data, using public key cryptography.</p> <p>It is based on the original PGP (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PGP">Pretty Good Privacy</a>) software, created by <a href="https://philzimmermann.com/">Phil Zimmermann</a>.</p> <p>Beginning in 1997, the OpenPGP Working Group was formed in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to define this standard that had formerly been a proprietary product since 1991.</p> <p>Over the past decade, PGP, and later OpenPGP, has become the standard for nearly all of the world鈥檚 signed or encrypted email.</p> <p>OpenPGP also defines a standard format for certificates which, unlike most other certificate formats, enables <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_of_trust">webs of trust</a>.</p> <p>OpenPGP formats and uses are specified in many <a href="https://www.ietf.org/standards/rfcs/">IETF RFCs and drafts</a><sup id="fnref:rfcs" role="doc-noteref"><a href="#fn:rfcs" class="footnote" rel="footnote">1</a></sup>, so these standards can be implemented by any company without paying any licensing fees to anyone.</p> <div class="footnotes" role="doc-endnotes"> <ol> <li id="fn:rfcs" role="doc-endnote"> <p><a href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3156">RFC 3156</a> MIME Security with OpenPGP, <a href="https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9580.html">RFC 9580</a> OpenPGP (the main one), <a href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6091">RFC 6091</a> Using OpenPGP Keys for Transport Layer Security (TLS) Authentication, and <a href="/about/standard/">more</a>.聽<a href="#fnref:rfcs" class="reversefootnote" role="doc-backlink">↩</a></p> </li> </ol> </div> </section> <footer class="page__meta"> <p class="page__date"><strong><i class="fas fa-fw fa-calendar-alt" aria-hidden="true"></i> Updated:</strong> <time class="dt-published" datetime="2024-09-29">September 29, 2024</time></p> </footer> <nav class="pagination"> <a href="#" class="pagination--pager disabled">Previous</a> <a href="/about/history/" class="pagination--pager" title="History ">Next</a> </nav> </div> </article> </div> </div> <div id="footer" class="page__footer"> <footer> <!-- start custom footer snippets --> <!-- end custom footer snippets --> <div class="page__footer-follow"> <ul class="social-icons"> <li><a href="https://github.com/OpenPGP/openpgp.org/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"><i class="fab fa-fw fa-github" aria-hidden="true"></i> This site is organized in the open on GitHub. 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