This post introduces "pgp-identities" as a Steemit topic for publishing [PGP](http://www.pgpi.org/) keys and associated identifying information.

PGP ([Pretty Good Privacy](http://www.pgpi.org/), [Gnu Privacy Guard](https://www.gnupg.org/)) is a public-private key system used for encryption and signing documents. A critical component of document signatures is the need to reliably store verification keys for public access, in a manner that renders the public key very difficult or even impossible to change.

Traditionally, public keys are stored at centralized key servers such as [pgp.mit.edu](https://pgp.mit.edu/) or [keyserver.ubuntu.com](http://keyserver.ubuntu.com/). Although these key servers are highly reliable, they nevertheless are centralized storage and are therefore susceptible to compromise, outages, or even termination of the service itself.

The present category (pgp-identities), aims to address the vulnerabilities and impermanence of centralized PGP key servers by suggesting that Steemit users post their PGP keys and ID information on the Steem blockchain.

A format for the post is proposed as follows:

* One line describing the post. Example: "PGP Key Information for James Stroud"
* A blank line
* Author's known home page wherein a link back to the Steemit GPG-Identites post can be found. Example: "Homepage: http://www.jamesstroud.com/"
* A blank line
* An optional list of other pages that identify the PGP key owner
* A blank line
* Optional biographical information
* A blank line
* The PGP public key in armor exported format.

A complete example will be made available at [@jamesstroud/pgp-identity](https://steemit.com/pgp-identites/@jamesstroud/pgp-identity)

Discussion and debate of this idea is encouraged to be kept within the thread created by the present post.