Encrypting your e-mail will keep your messages safe from all but the most determined hackers. Protecting your intellectual property assets is paramount, and those assets include e-mail. In the end, this will become a non-negotiable requirement in our litigious society. Encryption is a reasonable precaution that we'll have to take when sending sensitive information anywhere around the globe.

Douglas Schweitzer is a freelance writer and Internet security specialist in Nesconset, N.Y. He can be reached at dougneak@juno.com.