11 ms·
Keybase' post about the acquisition: https://keybase.io/blog/keybase-joins-zoom https://keybase.io/blog/keybase-joins-zoom > What the Keybase team will be doin
by roblabla 6y ago
Keybase' post about the acquisition: https://keybase.io/blog/keybase-joins-zoom https://keybase.io/blog/keybase-joins-zoom
> What the Keybase team will be doing
> Initially, our single top priority is helping to make Zoom even more secure. There are no specific plans for the Keybase app yet. Ultimately Keybase's future is in Zoom's hands, and we'll see where that takes us. Of course, if anything changes about Keybase’s availability, our users will get plenty of notice.
> So, our shortest-term directive is to significantly improve our security effectiveness, by working on a product that's that much bigger than Keybase. We can't be more specific than that, because we're just diving in.
So, yup, keybase is dead.
- bloopernova 6y ago> So, yup, keybase is dead. Well, shit. Keybase had an amazing potential. I use it every day to ad-hoc securely share/store stuff. It will be sad to see it wither even more than it has. :(
- neltnerb 6y agoLucky for us it is open source? I was hoping to use it to replace Dropbox but they kept not taking my money... small wonder they went for the acquisition.
- dgellow 6y agoIs the server open source? I know that the client is, but I haven’t found sources for the backend.
- an_ko 6y agoIt's not: https://github.com/keybase/client/issues/6374 https://github.com/keybase/client/issues/6374
- thayne 6y ago> it is open source Not exactly. The clients are open source, but the central server isn't. See https://github.com/keybase/client/issues/6374 https://github.com/keybase/client/issues/6374. It might be possible to reverse engineer the server, but it would be a lot more involved than just forking the project.
- neltnerb 6y agoThat's unfortunate. I assume Zoom would have no interest in open sourcing the server software now that they've paid for the cryptographic expertise and code, but I think the previous owners might have been willing to... surprised they never did, maybe they decided they'd never get bought if they did. A shame, it seemed to work really well. Maybe Zoom will be willing to take my money to be a DropBox end-to-end encrypted cloud sync service instead, they seem to be fairly on the ball with responding to complaints and that they decided it was worth buying Keybase to improve their service maybe they'll come out alright. Wishful thinking maybe =)
- thayne 6y agoThe best scenario would be if this led to keybase open-sourcing the server as well. I have no idea how likely that is.
- ackbar03 6y agoWhat was the main difference with this a drop box though? It's encrypted?
- chupasaurus 6y agoThe data is stored after encryption by client which are open source (and by using boring© crypto schemes).
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- herval 6y agoWhile it's a cool tool, what exactly was the (commercial) potential Keybase had? I could never tell.
- gallamine 6y agoSecure filesharing and chat, for starters. Secure digital wallets tied to identity. It was a wallet platform I'd actually be interested in.
- chupasaurus 6y agoEncrypted git repos with ties to team chat...
- brigandish 6y agoThat's what I've been using it for lately, it was becoming my main Git platform. I'm sad that this looks like the end of that.
- bloopernova 6y agoAbility to assign roles(groups) to heterogeneous users. So imagine being able to add user@domainA.com, user@domainB.com, and name@nonprofitname.org to cool-dev-group and them being to instantly be able to access the relevant chat rooms, git repos, shared folders, etc. If password/secret management had been added, then access to that too could have been allowed. If SSO/Oauth had been added, then any service could be covered by this sort of role-based-access-control-for-anyone. So no user has been created, they're using their existing identity to access new resources. With some extra coding, triggers and events could have been added to do things like auto-sign public keys.
- INTPenis 6y agoHow can they be so obvlivious though? Their own blog post doesn't even mention the tarnished reputation Zoom has acquired lately. A lot of people will stop developing integrations for Keybase because of this. It's sad.
- mc32 6y agoThey’re not oblivious but two things; you don’t bite the hand that feeds and it’s easier to get someone to see your side of things when you agree with them. Confrontation will not help to fix Zoom’s culture of insecurity.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- mtmail 6y agoZoom is publicly traded. Assume their blog post had to be approved by Zoom's press department.
- momokoko 6y agoThey aren’t. They are making a lot of money which is what the business was made for. The post is actually refreshingly honest that keybase is now abandoned and will probably die at some point. The idea that companies were stupid enough to place their internal identity on some random 3rd party is so incredibly stupid that it’s hard to feel too bad for anyone. Congrats Keybase!
- formercoder 6y agoThank you. Keybase had investors and I’m sure the premium Zoom offered was unbeatable. Zoom can effectively pay infinity with equity. Those investors knew that this was the best way they’d ever have to realize gains. That’s why they invested in the first place.
- gwd 6y agoWell, when FB bought WhatsApp, its founders stayed on for a bit to vest his shares then founded Signal with his "screw you" money. Maybe some of Keybase's founders can do the same thing.
- dcow 6y agoI don’t necessarily read it that way. Keybase is 100% functional and has worked well for a long time. Zoom needs people who know how to make modern client software and chat if they want to compete with the Slacks and Teams, etc. You can’t even screen share on wayland... it’s that bad. If keybase ultimately gets secure video, and zoom a security architecture overhaul, how is that a bad thing?
- coldpie 6y agoWell, it's pretty clearly an aquihire. Zoom gets a team of highly skilled cryptographers and Internet protocol experts. Good for them. But that means the team that created Keybase as an innovate PKI store won't be working on that anymore. That's not Zoom's business, and probably won't be, as Keybase themselves never figured out how to turn it into a business.
- asdkhadsj 6y agoIt bothers me that they even tried, honestly. Keybase seems like something that should be small, isolated, FOSS, supported by a foundation, etc. They could have built a business _around_ Keybase I'd imagine, but all they managed to do with this is invalidate Keybase and make people like myself, who feared their business motivations, feel vindicated for being paranoid. I'll never blame anyone for wanting to make money, to make a business, etc. But if you make a product that walks talks and acts like a FOSS project, but keep it to center your business around... I'll always be longing for a real, true FOSS replacement. In this case a good looking FOSS alternative came out a few months ago iirc. Though for the life of me I can't remember the name. edit: https://keys.pub/ https://keys.pub/ - though I will still miss KBFS
- dcow 6y agoHow was their product ever marketed that way? They have open source clients because that security table stakes. They’re a solution to crypto anarchy because they help link your crypto identities to your social ones. None of that has changed. You talk like all valid software is free of corporate ownership/sponsorship. Why is zoom’s money somehow worse than e.g. softbank’s.
- OJFord 6y agoIsn't getting bought and there being no plans for your business bonkers? Or at least, it's a bonkers/highly-unusual admission that it's an acqui-hire.
- pwinnski 6y agoBonkers how? Zoom gave them money, they took the money.
- cactus2093 6y agoI remember thinking they were neat a few years ago, I made an account and tried out exchanging some keys. It’s slick but I don’t see how it was ever going to be a mainstream product for non technical users who mostly don’t even understand what encryption is. Haven’t heard anything about them since, I kinda already assumed they were dead.
- dgellow 6y agoIt doesn’t have to be mainstream. A niche product can be viable. Unless you begin to accept investors money who want an exponential growth at all cost. But if that’s what you want as an investor, no idea why you would invest in Keybase.
- zcid 6y agoYou can also have investors that buy into a company because it is counterproductive to their goals. Not all investments are meant to produce financial profit.
- xiphias2 6y ago,,helping to make Zoom even more secure. '' Wow, this means that keybase stuff thinks that Zoom is secure already. Zoom should have hired people who don't think that way.
- pornel 6y agoKeybase was dead as soon as they took VC money. Their original purpose — tying identities to keys — could have been a nice small non-profit. But there aren't fortunes to be made from managing GPG keys, so they had to pivot into shark jumping.
- zelly 6y agohttps://pgp.mit.edu/ https://pgp.mit.edu/
- chizhik-pyzhik 6y agokeyservers don't work as a root of trust. look at all the 'satoshi nakamoto' keys supposedly from 2004 https://pgp.mit.edu/pks/lookup?search=Satoshi+Nakamoto&op=index https://pgp.mit.edu/pks/lookup?search=Satoshi+Nakamoto&op=in...
- dijit 6y agoThat doesn't tie identity to keys. Not to mention it's notoriously slow and has been shown to be an insecure method of distributing keys (due to the fact that anybody can upload any key).
- zelly 6y agoAnyone can upload a key to keybase dot com too. You should never trust a key belongs to someone unless you have verified the fingerprint by other means e.g. speaking to them. This is basic security we have known since the 80s. Keybase dot com is a step backwards if anything because of the false sense of security it creates, as if they don't have a giant attack surface.
- dewey 6y agoYou don't understand what Keybase does. The whole point is that you don't just use it to upload a key. You link various verified identifies of yours across the web to your Keybase account so people know the PGP key there is the one of the verified person. It's a way to tie all your verified identifies together. If someone would manage to compromise a bunch of identities of someone on the internet, and then create a Keybase account with them and then upload a compromised PGP key that would be a problem if you don't verify the key. But that's a bit of a stretch.
- StreamBright 6y agoWhy would it be?
- fwip 6y agoSounds like good timing that https://keys.pub https://keys.pub has become usable recently. :)