index.html

---
layout: default
title: Home
---
{% include header.html %}
<h2><a name="welcome" class="anchor" href="#welcome"><span class="octicon octicon-link"></span></a>Welcome</h2>

<p>Welcome to the p2gstick project website.<br>
Here you will find more information about our project. Just keep reading...</p>

<h2>
<a name="the-idea" class="anchor" href="#the-idea"><span class="octicon octicon-link"></span></a>The idea</h2>

<p>The idea behind this project is quite simple. As you probably know, the protocols underlying our e-mail system were originally not meant to be used on a scale as large as it is today. Therefore, it is quite easy for both governmental organizations (like the NSA or GCHQ) or companies (like Google, Yahoo or Microsoft) to read and even automatically process your mails.<br>
Of course, encryption techniques like PGP (or its Open Source implementation <a href="http://gnupg.org">GnuPG</a>) have provided a solution for a long time now. However, two major problems arise:</p>

<ul>
<li>Security: Even though the public key algorithms underlying GnuPG are believed to be safe, it is very hard to make sure that your private key isn't compromised. Many experts say that the only real way to keep your private key safe is to only store it on a machine that isn't and will never be connected to the internet.</li>
<li>Ease of use: While there are most certainly applications out there that make using GnuPG rather easy, it still is quite hard for the average user to get used to. In addition, encrypted mails can only be sent and read from a machine where one a) has his/her private key available and b) the GnuPG software is installed, thus limiting the range of computers one can use for encrypted mail exchange significantly and scaring potential users away.</li>
</ul><p>With p2gstick, we want to address both these issues by storing the user's private key safely on a smart card and providing an easy-to-use portable application that can be used on almost any computer or mobile device. To make it as easy as possible for the end user to get started encrypting their mails, we will offer an all-in-one USB stick that contains everything they need.</p>

<h2>
<a name="contributors" class="anchor" href="#contributors"><span class="octicon octicon-link"></span></a>Contributors</h2>

<p>This project originated at German <a href="http://raabeschule.de">Gymnasium Raabeschule Braunschweig</a>.<br>
We are two students highly interested in computer science and electronics:</p>

<ul>
<li>Benjamin Altpeter (<a href="https://github.com/ppcbenni" class="user-mention">@ppcbenni</a>)</li>
<li>Lorenz Sieben (<a href="https://github.com/zner0L" class="user-mention">@zner0L</a>)</li>
</ul><h2>
<a name="license" class="anchor" href="#license"><span class="octicon octicon-link"></span></a>License</h2>

<p>We believe in the power of Open Source. When starting this project, we knew immediately we had to (and also wanted to) release as much of our work as possible under an Open Source license that allows anyone to use it, learn from it, change it, distribute it etc. freely.<br>
As p2gstick consists of several somewhat independent parts, we think it is appropriate to license them individually in order to suit each case perfectly.</p>

<h3>
<a name="the-software" class="anchor" href="#the-software"><span class="octicon octicon-link"></span></a>The software</h3>

<p>We have decided to release the entire software part of the p2gstick project under the MIT license. You can find more information in the corresponding repository.<br>
You can find our software here: <a href="https://github.com/ppcbenni/p2gstick-software">https://github.com/ppcbenni/p2gstick-software</a></p>

<h3>
<a name="the-hardware" class="anchor" href="#the-hardware"><span class="octicon octicon-link"></span></a>The hardware</h3>

<p>We have not yet decided on which license to use for our hardware.<br>
You can find our hardware here: <a href="https://github.com/ppcbenni/p2gstick-hardware">https://github.com/ppcbenni/p2gstick-hardware</a></p>

<h3>
<a name="the-content" class="anchor" href="#the-content"><span class="octicon octicon-link"></span></a>The content</h3>

<p>All the content (text, images, videos etc.) we publish for this project is available under a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported</a> license.<br>
If you have any questions regarding the licensing of some piece of content that is part of the p2gstick project, please refer to the contact information down below.</p>

<h2>
<a name="thanks" class="anchor" href="#thanks"><span class="octicon octicon-link"></span></a>Thanks</h2>

<p>This project would not be possible without the following people. Thanks a lot to</p>

<ul>
<li>the people behind the <a href="http://crypto-stick.org">CryptoStick</a> project. This project gave us the initial inspiration and was a helpful resource for solving several issues.</li>
<li>our computer science teacher who allowed us to work on this as an official school project.</li>
<li>our school's principal and "Förderverein" for supporting us financially.</li>
<li>the online electronics store <a href="http://mouser.com">Mouser</a> for also supporting us financially.</li>
</ul><h2>
<a name="contact" class="anchor" href="#contact"><span class="octicon octicon-link"></span></a>Contact</h2>

<p>Want to contact us?<br>
No problem, feel free to send us an e-mail to <a href="mailto:p2gstick@raabeschule.net">p2gstick@raabeschule.net</a>. It will then automatically be redirected to all team members so we can respond quickly.<br>
You can also contact us individually. Please refer to the contact information mentioned in our GitHub accounts.</p>
{% include footer.html %}