I've been a fan of [Keybase](https://keybase.io/) for a while as a way to play with encryption technology. They provide simple ways to encrypt messages and confirm digital signatures. If you trust them to look after your keys then their site can encrypt and sign too. The other facility they have always offered is a way to verify your identity by putting signed messages onto various sites and services to prove you control those accounts. This is about as good a proof as we can have given that it is not technically viable to fake this. You can see that I'm verified for a few things. I just wish there was a way to do this for a Steemit account.

![Steve on Keybase](https://steemitimages.com/DQmePFN37JQJ1C1EARr11KuoRY7QYB8reh2446q7choG13d/image.png)

A while back they added cloud storage. You get 10GB for free, but it's more powerful than some other services. You can have public files and I used this for my Steemit images before they hosted them for us. You can also have secure storage that can be shared with selected people. The files [are encrypted](https://keybase.io/docs/kbfs) so that Keybase cannot access them. If you share then your client re-encrypts to allow that person access.

They have clients for all platforms (although Android at least cannot access the files yet). The client provides encrypted chat with other users. Again, this is end to end encryption. If you want to talk to anyone then you can send a message using their Twitter or some other ID and they will get it when they sign up and confirm they control that account. The client adds a button to sites to make this easy.

![Twitter](https://steemitimages.com/DQmbEGBMZoqSLLx8w3PEXPCuKwKtdjK12GCNAbRiWAQYadA/image.png)

The latest [new feature](https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/18/keybase-launches-fully-encrypted-slack-like-communications-tool-and-its-free/) is [Keybase Teams](https://keybase.io/blog/introducing-keybase-teams), which is something like [Slack](https://slack.com/) or Steemit Chat, except that it's all encrypted so that only participants can ever see what went on. Their software is all open source, so people can check for back doors.

![Teams](https://steemitimages.com/DQmbiLhbyaXiJ5DiZpeP4CfR5avHhntuLZaZsPAJXvTUbih/image.png)
Image from the Keybase site.

I've not been able to try this yet, but it looks very cool. I have used the file storage and chat. I just like the control that encryption gives us. We can choose who gets to see anything. Of course everything has limitations. You can't stop a person you share with from passing on the secrets and your government may be able to threaten you with imprisonment if you do not allow them access. 

This is geeky stuff, but I think it's worth investigating. If you join Keybase then you know [where to find me](https://keybase.io/steevc). A couple of people on Steemit already connected with me on Keybase.

If you want to play then the block at the end of this post is signed and can be checked [here](https://keybase.io/verify). I used [gpg](https://www.gnupg.org/gph/en/manual/x135.html) rather than Keybase to sign this as Keybase does not have my private key.

Steem on!

<p><b><div class="pull-left"><img src="https://steevc.keybase.pub/steemit/steevc.png"></div>
I'm Steve, the geeky guitarist. </b></p><p>I'll buy <a href="https://steemit.com/guitar/@steevc/steem-for-picks">guitar picks for Steem Dollars</a></p>
<p>Convert Steem to Bitcoin (and others coins) using <a href="https://changelly.com?ref_id=63b4ad2e8ff2">Changelly</a>.</p>
<p>If this post is over seven days old you can vote up one of my newer posts to reward me.</p>
<p><b>Spam comments will be flagged</b></p>

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

This is to confirm that user steevc on Steemit controls this encryption key.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1

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7501Tyxfp3l/54HFwbHlA/ipBdvzfzhVAVl7rmlcCJRqgggq6AyoN08N6FlCNZFq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=Z0ns
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----