Creating a key bearing no user ID

[David Shaw]

On Jan 22, 2012, at 1:05 PM, Holger wrote:

> Hello gnupg-users,
> 
> I intend to use gpg only for receiving encrypted e-mail, not signing my outgoing e-mail. Because I don't want my name or e-mail address out there on the keyservers, I want do create a key without a uid. People who want to send me e-mail, get my e-mail address and keyID/fingerprint with my business card.
> 
> Will this work or did I miss something?

It won't work.  The OpenPGP standard requires at least one user ID on a key.  It does not require that it has an email address or even your real name, so you can legally have a user ID of "Anonymous" or similar, but you do need something there.  Note that if you are intending to get your key signed by others, most people won't sign a user ID that just reads "Anonymous".

David