What is the best file encryption for linux?

[Christopher Browne]

On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 7:58 PM, Howard Gibson <hgibson-MwcKTmeKVNQ at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> On Thu, 19 Jul 2012 10:19:08 -0400
> Mike Kallies <mike.kallies-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>>
>> Whole Disk Encryption is the best.  Truecrypt, dm-crypt, etc.
>
>    I encrypted my laptop's /home partition.  My install notes are online, complete with my notes and remarks about encryption.
>
>    http://home.eol.ca/~hgibson/Romin
>
>    How badly does one get harassed at the border with an encrypted laptop?

Now that "There's an app for that" (e.g. - plenty of password
management apps for mobile phones), and SanDisk sells "encrypted USB
keys", it's no longer at all suspicious for someone to be carrying
encrypted material.  They're incredibly unlikely to ask.

If they have some reason to be suspicious of you, imagining one of the
FBI bugaboos (e.g. - spying or Doing Bad Things To Children), then
anything at all that's potentially interpretable as suspicious will be
reason to get out the Rubber Hose To Encourage Splainin', however
minor it might be in other circumstances.

Airports are sufficiently "US-Constitution-Free" zones that you have
to regard them as being potentially pretty capricious.  There's a
pretty good argument to be made in favour of trying to keep yourself
"sanitized" of anything that might arouse suspicion.

There's little call to carry possibly-sensitive data when:
a) If you're *not* paranoid, you might stow it on DropBox or such;
b) If you're *somewhat* paranoid, you might stow it, strongly
encrypted, on DropBox or such;
c) Your favorite server is just an "scp" away.
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