Understanding OpenPGP 35
won’t want to find it by a string of meaningless characters; they
want to use your name! If they can’t remember your full name,
they’ll want to use your email address.
Although it’s unlikely that someone wanting to reach me
would search for my public key by the fact that I’m an author,
it would help sort me out from all the other Michael Lucases in
the world who might use OpenPGP.
Revocation Certificates
A revocation certificate allows you to announce to the world that
your keypair is no longer valid. You need a revocation certifi-
cate if your private key is lost, compromised, or stolen. You
might also forget your passphrase, which would lock you out
of your own private key and render you unable to read any
encrypted messages ...