well PGP still has a very useful role in bootstrapping private communication in an OpSec sense.
practical scenario to safely pivot would be to create a plain text file with this content:
"please do not reply to this email - if reply or don't stick to the following steps I must assume you're compromised and have to ignore all other attempts at contact for both of our safety. Please send instead a message on <ricocet/signal/wire/session> with this exact content <proof/hash> so I know it's you, my userid is <userid>. I expect a reply until <time in the very near future>"
Then encrypt that (using cli not the mail user agent) and send without subject.
If they deviate from the agreement, or if there is a long delay in comms immediately cease all contact. Should give you reasonable confidence about the authenticity of the message after the pivot. Certainly beats using whatsapp or gmail to pivot to secure comms.
But as you said, I wouldn't use it for anything else, not because I don't trust myself but the moment you share a secret it is no longer a secret and you have to take its halflife into account.
practical scenario to safely pivot would be to create a plain text file with this content:
"please do not reply to this email - if reply or don't stick to the following steps I must assume you're compromised and have to ignore all other attempts at contact for both of our safety. Please send instead a message on <ricocet/signal/wire/session> with this exact content <proof/hash> so I know it's you, my userid is <userid>. I expect a reply until <time in the very near future>"
Then encrypt that (using cli not the mail user agent) and send without subject.
If they deviate from the agreement, or if there is a long delay in comms immediately cease all contact. Should give you reasonable confidence about the authenticity of the message after the pivot. Certainly beats using whatsapp or gmail to pivot to secure comms.
But as you said, I wouldn't use it for anything else, not because I don't trust myself but the moment you share a secret it is no longer a secret and you have to take its halflife into account.