Also, assuming you keep the key, it prevents someone from attacking you through this channel in the future. Instead of trusting the distribution channel every t

Also, assuming you keep the key, it prevents someone from attacking you through this channel in the future. Instead of trusting the distribution channel every time, you just have to trust it once. Not perfect, but surely an improvement. Similar to the SSH security model. Personally I verify keys to the best of my ability on first install, and then only use that key to verify in the future.