Applications of encryption at home are far more straightforward than the reasons that the United States government cares. Encryption at home has numerous applications for personal privacy.
The common encryption application includes devices for encoding and decoding text. Most of this is based upon several methods of protection -- some being passwords, other being key-based. These methods can provide a secure mechanism for sending messages, information, and files to other people while preventing others from intercepting them.
Most common is incorporating encryption programs with email clients. E-Mail is inherently insecure due to its network nature where it is relayed across numerous servers -- steps in which any administrator of any server it goes through could potentially read your email. The majority of encryption programs will interface directly with common email clients, thus creating an easy way to send absolutely private messages through email.
Encryption can also be an important precaution in personal files at home and in the office where multiple people might use the computer. Often files that are meant to be in a protected area or at least considered private might exist on the computer. In these circumstances, protective technologies such as encryption can become incredibly useful to defend against unwanted access to information.
Less obvious uses of encryption have recently appeared. It's quite likely that you've actually used encryption in one form or another and not realized it. Newer cordless 900mhz phones operate on a digitally encoded secure channel. By digitizing the link between the handset and the base, the phone can encrypt all data that goes between the two. This prevents the age-old occurrence where other people overhear cordless phone conversations on a normal phone.
"Appropriate" social applications of encryption have yet to be
determined. The question of governmental involvement and the right to privacy
are central questions in the debate. Read about