Zoom Acquires Keybase • Hacker News Board

Re: Zoom Acquires Keybase

#211

Post by Legogris » Thu, May 07, 2020, 2:44 PM UTC

ddevault wrote: post #53

Keybase helped me to identify a trend in the software industry: using a pretty UI to cover up the disruption of an open ecosystem with a closed, centralized replacement. Keybase seemed cool on the face of it - making encryption easier is a laudible goal, and PGP certainly could use the improvement. But, thanks to Keybase, now I ask different questions upfront. Beware the Keybase formula: 1. Integrates with an existin…

I don't know how many people here remember the excitement when Android was new and, OMG, it's Linux! Open source! Finally we have a Linux-based, free and open phone platform!

I actually think that this played a non-trivial part in Android getting early traction - similar dynamic to Gmail where tech people got excited about it eventually "my friend who's good with computers recommends this" becomes a factor.

Not the exact same formula as you formulate above, but I think there are parallels to draw.

Embrace, extend, and extinguish, and all that.

Re: Zoom Acquires Keybase

#212

Post by 0x8BADF00D » Thu, May 07, 2020, 2:45 PM UTC

floatingatoll wrote: post #128

dcow wrote: post #78

Honest question, why does Zoom’s security reputation matter more than Keybase’s? There’s so much pessimism in here but I really don't get it. I disliked zoom long before any of the security issues because frankly it’s rough, unpolished, software that’s never really worked well for me. I, for one, would be excited to get a functional Zoom with better security integrated into Keybase as an option for UI so that you hav…

The missing piece here isn’t a factor driven by technical logic, but a factor by human logic. It was “cool” to use Slack until it became widely used, and then it was “cool” to use Keybase instead. Zoom is currently seen as “uncool” (E2EE screwup + widely used), so when they purchase “cool” Keybase, now Keybase automatically becomes “uncool” as well and people will look for something “cool” to migrate to next. This is…

Keybase was useless for the most part anyway. It became a vehicle to airdrop and shill shitcoins. Anyone saying it was some kind of bastion of user privacy is being overly nostalgic.

Re: Zoom Acquires Keybase

#213

Post by koirapoika » Thu, May 07, 2020, 2:46 PM UTC

Zoom?! What a twist! Congrats to the Keybase team! Although it's time to drop the account and move further, I'll keep it for a while in case of another twist.

Re: Zoom Acquires Keybase

#214

Post by sneak » Thu, May 07, 2020, 2:47 PM UTC

So, the company that got bribed by a shitcoin promoter to backdoor the keybase app so it can abuse your secret keybase identity keys to place permanent, non-removable shitcoin ads on your profile[1] (and then immediately denied that it was a backdoor and also lied about implementing the ability for users to remove the ads keybase got paid to place[2]) is now joining up with the company that has shipped sketchy backdoored client software[3], consistently lied about having end to end encryption (and even doubled down on their lies when confronted about it!)[4] and delivers their encryption keys from generation servers in China[5].

I'm sure the result of this will be lots of good and secure trustworthy software that I'll be eager to install on my computer. It's totally legitimate and accurate that people are reporting today that this acquisition will bring real end to end encryption to Zoom as if buying a company causes software to spontaneously manifest out of the ether with zero delay. Don't worry, everyone: Zoom is secure now because they wrote a check!

What is it with cryptographic charlatans these days?

[1]: https://sneak.berlin/20190929/keybase-backdoor/

[2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21109530

[3]: https://www.zdnet.com/article/zoom-defends-use-of-local-web-...

[4]: https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2020/04/01/facts-around-zoom-...

[5]: https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2020/04/03/warni...

Re: Zoom Acquires Keybase

#215

Post by sealthedeal » Thu, May 07, 2020, 2:47 PM UTC

I was one of the early Keybase adopters/users, this is kind of a sad and happy day all at once. I am happy for the founders and team as this is a great exit, but am sad because I think Keybase, one of my favorite products, is going to go to the wayside :(

Re: Zoom Acquires Keybase

#216

Post by steve_adams_86 » Thu, May 07, 2020, 2:48 PM UTC

Kipters wrote: post #17

Congrats to the keybase team, but I guess I'll just stop using it

Likewise. My friends and I have been using it throughout the pandemic to chat, I've been using it for years, but we're all deleting our accounts this morning. All around unsettling news as far as keybase software goes. Congratulations keybase team, though.

Re: Zoom Acquires Keybase

#217

Post by ryukafalz » Thu, May 07, 2020, 2:48 PM UTC

Arathorn wrote: post #161

ryukafalz wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi! I use Matrix a lot, but a privacy-sensitive group of my friends recently switched to Keybase largely due to the per-room/per-message retention policies. This might be a good opportunity to convince them to jump ship, and I know something similar has been in the works for Matrix, but do you know where it is on the list of priorities? (Congrats on the cross-signing release though, it's been a long time coming and i…

We've had per-room/per-message retention policies in Matrix for months now (although Riot hasn't exposed UX to configure them yet, as we were drowning in cross-signing work). https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/blob/master/docs/messa... has the details.

Hmm, that document seems to indicate they're disabled by default in synapse though?

>Note that over every server in the room, only the ones with support for message retention policies will actually remove expired events. This support is currently not enabled by default in Synapse.

Re: Zoom Acquires Keybase

#218

Post by cactus2093 » Thu, May 07, 2020, 2:49 PM UTC

roblabla wrote: post #34

Keybase' post about the acquisition: 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…

I 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.

Re: Zoom Acquires Keybase

#219

Post by tobylane » Thu, May 07, 2020, 2:49 PM UTC

rvz wrote: post #54

> Ultimately Keybase's future is in Zoom's hands Well, that definitely translates to uncertainty and ultimately the death of Keybase.

@Keybase users: Check if you uploaded your private key. I hope it is rare but now is the time to make that non existent.

Re: Zoom Acquires Keybase

#220

Post by fernandotakai » Thu, May 07, 2020, 2:50 PM UTC

netheril96 wrote: post #207

frogpelt wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems that we live in an era where if you made bad decisions in the past, you can never be trusted to make good decisions ever again. Even if you own your bad decisions and show lots of improvement. Nope. Once a pariah, always a pariah.

Zoom is only a pariah on Hacker News.

microsoft too. people here still talk about "Embrace, extend, and extinguish" every time there's any good microsoft news.