Keybase.io is very useful for Web of Trust
So I have been enjoying this service. I have an OpenPGP key with a few subkeys (depending on the number of devices I have). What this is great for is the Web of Trust (don't like using that term but most people understand the meaning). It allows me to easily verfiy people I am working on GitHub that I don't know by person but by their GitHub account. This allows me to validate a users credentials before I sign of. This helps prevent others trying to mimic as someone else!
2 comments
When you say Web of Trust, I'd say quite a few think of the troublesome browser extension [0], not the theory [1].
A key point in the theory, is that it is decentralised. Keybase isn't.
What you're enjoying is just public key infrastructure, and GitHub integrating it well.
It's cool it exists, and works well. But it's hardly a Web of Trust.
[0] http://lifehacker.com/web-of-trust-sells-your-browsing-histo...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_of_trust
A key point in the theory, is that it is decentralised. Keybase isn't.
What you're enjoying is just public key infrastructure, and GitHub integrating it well.
It's cool it exists, and works well. But it's hardly a Web of Trust.
[0] http://lifehacker.com/web-of-trust-sells-your-browsing-histo...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_of_trust
Well, yes, Keybase.io acts as a centralised location to find all the identity proofs, but you don't actually need to rely on it - the proofs on each external site can be independently verified without any help from Keybase.io.
Keybase is elitist, they follow the easy trust method of giving trust to a very few people within specific networks.