Paranoids and supporters of BBW (Big Brother Is Watching) should read the news about how a World War II-era cipher, the four-rotor Enigma, was cracked only recently, and at considerable cost.
This means, in particular, that modern ciphers with long keys (256 bits or more) are currently impossible to crack, at least until fully functional quantum computers appear. So use Skype and PGP, and don't worry about sinister intelligence agencies, which are no doubt diligently reading all your incredibly boring life stories sent in plain text.
mistrale1514, you can show this to you-know-who, although it is unlikely to reassure him.
Good News for Paranoids
2006-03-02