Author: Thomas Zander 2014-09-15 15:10:21
Published on: 2014-09-15T15:10:21+00:00
The use of PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) to provide distributed trust to a system of identity is considered geek wanking, as it tries to solve a problem that cannot be solved. This is because it still depends on local governments for upstream ID, which means it remains centralized. A decentralized identity management system is needed that allows the creation of new anonymous IDs that can be used when more security is required. For instance, including a Bitcoin public key in an email signature establishes everyone having the public key many times in their email archives. When proof is required, a signature can be provided on the requested content. The overhead of PGP and the Web of Trust (WoT) is unnecessary and results in fewer people using it. Though the value of in-person vetting of identity is undeniable, the in-person aspect of the WoT is frustrating. Guidelines suggest that you should not trust or sign a formerly-untrusted PGP or GPG key without seeing that person in real life and verifying their identity. In this light, the PGP WoT is useless and represents stupid geek wanking. A person's behavioral signature is what is relevant, and we know how Satoshi coded and wrote. Establishing an online entity known as Satoshi is easily done without any in-person meetings. The point is, the "online entity known as Satoshi" is the relevant fingerprint.
Updated on: 2023-06-09T02:34:20.516165+00:00