Keybase is out for iPhone, Android • Hacker News Board

Re: Keybase is out for iPhone, Android

#21

Post by brbz » Thu, May 11, 2017, 8:46 PM UTC

tkfu wrote: post #16

malgorithms wrote: post #8

Oh HN, so much for a soft-launch! (But thanks for all the positive comments on here.) We've been testing Keybase a lot with iOS and Android testers and we quietly released into the app stores last night. In many ways it's an MVP focusing on: (1) Keybase chat, and technically important (2) your phone acting as an additional device key, so you can easily provision new desktop computers. There are still some things miss…

How did you manage to get something written in Go into the iOS app store? I was under the impression that foreign binaries weren't allowed.

This was brought up a couple days ago during discussion of a game built in Rust on the app store. A comment there[0] claims that the restriction on languages is no longer in the guidelines.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14302931

Re: Keybase is out for iPhone, Android

#22

Post by mikeash » Thu, May 11, 2017, 8:46 PM UTC

Xeoncross wrote: post #15

pdog wrote: post #7

> By using the Keybase app you agree to the following terms: you'll be a nice Internet person. Unfortunately, Keybase cannot be considered free software because of this clause.

I am really tiring of these cute, but vague clauses. I think discussing important topics like war, death, and censorship are needed, but then again maybe I'm not "nice" bring up uncomfortable issues especially when they don't make your hero/candidate look good.

I'm pretty sure it's just a joke. There's no way such a thing would be enforceable.

Re: Keybase is out for iPhone, Android

#23

Post by sebsauvage » Thu, May 11, 2017, 8:49 PM UTC

Oh great... the application is not available in France (!). GooglePlay refuses to let me download the app. And the website does not provide a direct link to the apk (only direct links to desktop apps).

Will I have to download the app from dubious third-party stores ? :-(

Re: Keybase is out for iPhone, Android

#24

Post by omginternets » Thu, May 11, 2017, 8:50 PM UTC

chrisper wrote: post #17

Xeoncross wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am really tiring of these cute, but vague clauses. I think discussing important topics like war, death, and censorship are needed, but then again maybe I'm not "nice" bring up uncomfortable issues especially when they don't make your hero/candidate look good.

You can bring up sad and negative topics without being an asshole. That means you are being nice. For example, you are not nice if you say: trumptards do x,y You are nice if you say: x,y is not good in my opinion, because (list of arguments without resulting to offensive stuff)

I think the broader point is that (pseudo-)legislating politeness is bad policy.

Re: Keybase is out for iPhone, Android

#25

Post by Xeoncross » Thu, May 11, 2017, 8:50 PM UTC

chrisper wrote: post #17

Xeoncross wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am really tiring of these cute, but vague clauses. I think discussing important topics like war, death, and censorship are needed, but then again maybe I'm not "nice" bring up uncomfortable issues especially when they don't make your hero/candidate look good.

You can bring up sad and negative topics without being an asshole. That means you are being nice. For example, you are not nice if you say: trumptards do x,y You are nice if you say: x,y is not good in my opinion, because (list of arguments without resulting to offensive stuff)

Certainly, in decades of commenting you'll never find a comment where I call someone a foul name.

...but we're just hoping at this point that they use your definition of "nice" and not the version I gave where having "bad" opinions is "abuse".

Re: Keybase is out for iPhone, Android

#26

Post by koolba » Thu, May 11, 2017, 8:55 PM UTC

mikeash wrote: post #22

Xeoncross wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am really tiring of these cute, but vague clauses. I think discussing important topics like war, death, and censorship are needed, but then again maybe I'm not "nice" bring up uncomfortable issues especially when they don't make your hero/candidate look good.

I'm pretty sure it's just a joke. There's no way such a thing would be enforceable.

Sure but this is the type of thing that shies corporate lawyers from approving usage of something.

"We can't guarantee we'll be nice ..."

Re: Keybase is out for iPhone, Android

#27

Post by chrisper » Thu, May 11, 2017, 8:55 PM UTC

Xeoncross wrote: post #25

chrisper wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can bring up sad and negative topics without being an asshole. That means you are being nice. For example, you are not nice if you say: trumptards do x,y You are nice if you say: x,y is not good in my opinion, because (list of arguments without resulting to offensive stuff)

Certainly, in decades of commenting you'll never find a comment where I call someone a foul name. ...but we're just hoping at this point that they use your definition of "nice" and not the version I gave where having "bad" opinions is "abuse".

I know what you mean.

I had this issue before. I was complaining about a product on a forum and was a bit annoyed because it was expensive and did not work properly. I didn't call them names, but it was obvious in my tone that I was dissatisfied. Sadly, the moderators on that forum called it "trolling" and I got banned. Those moderators sadly also made money through the company I complained about since the forum is linked to the store.

So yeah. I can see what you mean.

Re: Keybase is out for iPhone, Android

#28

Post by t0mbstone » Thu, May 11, 2017, 8:58 PM UTC

So how exactly does it open a truly secure chat with someone else? If it is encrypting messages, then the recipient would have to have my public key to decrypt the message, right?

But if keybase is sending the recipient my public key, then doesn't keybase have the ability to decrypt my messages, too? And if keybase can do that, than can't everyone else that is watching the public key go over the wire decrypt my messages, too?

It seems like this is really only good for proving that the sender of a message is who they say they are, but not really good for privacy.

Please correct me if I'm wrong. How is this supposed to work?

Re: Keybase is out for iPhone, Android

#29

Post by rtkwe » Thu, May 11, 2017, 8:59 PM UTC

joshpadnick wrote: post #18

Could someone explain how the underlying keys are managed for Keybase mobile? I'm guessing as part of sign up you generate a unique key just for your mobile device, and if your mobile device is lost, you'll need to generate a new key? How does this dovetail with your desktop key? Does resetting any active key trigger a re-proof of each your identity services (i.e. Twitter, GitHub, etc.) Looks very cool overall!

They have a blog post of their key model. [0] If you lose your device you shouldn't have to re-prove your identity on all services just any that you proved using that particular key.

[0] https://keybase.io/blog/keybase-new-key-model

Re: Keybase is out for iPhone, Android

#30

Post by rtkwe » Thu, May 11, 2017, 9:02 PM UTC

archarios wrote: post #10

This doesn't sound too different from Signal to me other than the public directory of people thing. Is that it?

The chat is largely incidental to the actual use of keybase which is more of a convenient wrapper around key management and identity proofs. Signal doesn't allow you to take your key and sign or encrypt files without sending them through signal and doesn't interact with any other services.