Carthik Sharma

I have had to revoke my PGP key since I forgot the passphrase – mea culpa. Not that I have had too much use for it in the near past, but really, my Social Security Card, and passport haven’t seen the light of the day in more than a year now. My passphrase had 5 phrases/words in it, and though I can remember the last four, no amount of thinking in the shower, going to sleep while telling my mind to recall it from the subconscious and reveal it in a dream, and trying to recreate the instant when I thought up the passphrase is helping me. When I created the passphrase I had taken special care to make sure that I can recall it if I remembered at least one of three things, and yet, though I have the last four phrases/words I can’t for the life of me remember the first. I am sure it will come to me one day when I am lounging in my beach chair in a remote beach with a book on my chest.

So, friends, my keys have been revoked, using the instructions I wrote myself when I created the revocation certificate. The Key ID is 1878779A. Previously, the key with the Key ID 702814C0 had also been revoked. Searching the MIT PGP KeyServer confirms the revocation. Strangely though, the Veridis Keyserver doesn’t seem to know about the first revocation.

Anyway, the following is the revoke certificate:

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: GnuPG v1.2.5 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: A revocation certificate should follow

iI4EIBECAE4FAkKUqn1HHQBSZXZvY2F0aW9uIGNlcnRpZmljYXRlIGNyZWF0ZWQg
YXQgdGhlIHRpbWUgb2YgY3JlYXRpb24uIE1heSAyNSwgMjAwNS4ACgkQPEhXdhh4
d5rUDQCeMdyDBHIh4rGGnFrsw6yWi99Db5EAni81qyTuNVBZu5OwE7bOcvuO0psb
=3bl3
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

The only reason it took me so long to revoke this key-pair is that I had encrypted the revocation certificate with a symmetric key cipher, and thought I had forgotten the password for that too. I know, how smart. I had encrypted the revocation certificate using Gringotts – a very neat little encryption/decryption application. Then when I tried to decrypt it a while ago, the dang file wouldn’t get decrypted. So I feared the worst, and thought maybe I had forgotten the password for that too. Being unable to revoke keys is a lifelong sign of stupidity – much worse than a tattoo, I hear. Fortunately I just found out that Gringotts was broken and it was not my fault. So I tried with an up-to-date Gringotts, and voila! – I could decrypt my revoke certificate.

I will create a new key pair shortly – I have to get it all perfect from the get-go this time.

Update: New Key ID: BB0B8176
New key is below:
—–BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK—–
Version: SKS 1.0.9
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=BJmr
—–END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK—–

Roger Barrett, aka Syd Barrett died at an unknown time in the past week. From a founding member of Pink Floyd, he went to a recluse living in Cambridge – riding his bike, and living a quiet life. Too much LSD, and what followed was a life, the details of which are unknown. I am amazed by people who give everything up, and retreat to a life of silent existence. His songs used to leave me in wonder, and I could never wrap my head around how such a dangerously deviant musical experiment as the Piper at the Gates of Dawn became a commercial and critical success. I owe him a word of gratitude for having made my teenage years more colourful, and for teaching me to appreciate art. I wonder what his thoughts were in the later years of his life – maybe nothing remarkable, and maybe his silence was his biggest message – that there is no “message” – that life is just meant to be survived – a day at a time.