Pretty Easy privacy

pretty Easy privacy (p≡p or pEp) was a pluggable data encryption and verification system that provided automatic cryptographic key management through a set of libraries for written digital communications.

It existed as a plugin for Microsoft Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird as well as a mobile app for Android and iOS. p≡p also worked under Microsoft Windows, Unix-like and Mac OS X operating systems. Its cryptographic functionality was handled by an open-source p≡p engine relying on already existing cryptographic implementations in software like GnuPG, a modified version of netpgp (used only in iOS), and (as of p≡p v2.0) GNUnet.

pretty Easy privacy was first released in 2016. It is a free and open-source software.

p≡p was advertised as being easy to install, use, and understand. p≡p did not depend on any specific platform, message transport system (SMS, email, XMPP, etc.), or centrally provided client–server or "cloud" infrastructures; p≡p is fully peer-to-peer by design.

Keys are exchanged opportunistically by transferring via email.

Enigmail support

Enigmail announced its support for the new "pretty Easy privacy" (p≡p) encryption in a joint Thunderbird extension to be released in December 2015. Patrick Brunschwig, the head of Enigmail, announced that p≡p core functionality was implemented in Enigmail in October 2016, ready for the Mozilla Festival then taking place in London.

In July 2020, Thunderbird 78 dropped support for the Enigmail Add-On. Thunderbird 78 includes OpenPGP functionality and no longer requires the installation of external software.

ISOC support

The Internet Society Switzerland Chapter (ISOC-CH) and the Swiss p≡p foundation teamed up to implement privacy-enhancing standards at the basic level of internet protocols, and document them in the work of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).