Because Zoom acquired Keybase it was time for me to delete my account and look for alternatives. I genuinely liked Keybase and considered them being a “good company”. They were onto something, scratching an itch in the security space. While not perfect, they definitely did a lot right. It’s a shame.
My personal reasons why I decided to not use Keybase anymore are:
- The lack of any “We’re committed to keeping Keybase alive” statement.
- The vast majority of Zoom’s software development team is based out of companies in China and this arrangement may make them responsive to pressure from Chinese authorities.
- The popularity of Zoom technologies made it a high priority interest and target for multiple governments for signals intelligence gathering and targeted intrusion operations.
- The track record of Zoom to repeatedly prioritise ease-of-use over security and privacy.
What’s going to replace Keybase for me long-term is unclear, but right now the best alternative seems to be keys.pub. It’s free and open-source software and despite its early stage it looks promising enough for me to give it a shot.
Are you planning to keep using Keybase? Found another alternative? Let me know!