I'm a bit skeptical about
this new bitcoin ID service. What is it for exactly?
To me, if you really want to make sure the person you pay is the person you think, you have to request for a signed bitcoin address.
Exemple:
- Alice: Hi, grondilu, I really like what you do and I would like to donate bitcoins to you.
- grondilu: Ok, my bitcoin address is: 1LBEfZmRqtaH6KwGqt89uFm7dvdkiPdutC
- fake-grondilu: Don't listen to this guy, Alice, I am the real grondilu and my bitcoin address is: 1PffXTH9o2Lg87d6Y5igEFPSbv6f1kE97U
- Alice: I know grondilu's public key, so you guys sign your bitcoin address so I found out who is the real grondilu.
- grondilu: Ok, here it is again:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
1LBEfZmRqtaH6KwGqt89uFm7dvdkiPdutC
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux)
iEYEARECAAYFAk26qGQACgkQq17371C4DmjhVgCg507apPO5bNqwzZnXlPTLe+2q
rM4An34WgO2Lv9LK+tTG0E8Uzlg5pg9v
=+mTq
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
- fake-grondilu: damn it, you got me.
Now, I know not everybody uses GnuPG, so I guess this bitcoin ID service is usefull anyway.