How can I remove my personal data from my PGP public key? According to this Q&amp;A-discussion it is possible to remove all personal data (name and mail address) that is attached to a public key.


What steps do I have to follow in order to remove all personal data?
Will that modified public key still allow me to decrypt data with my regular passphrase?
You cannot remove all UIDs, but you can create one which does not link to your identity and remove all others.


Backup your .gnupg folder (for unix systems, for Windows wherever your key is stored)!
Start editing your key:

$ gpg --edit-key 47AB515A

Create an anonymous UID:

gpg&gt; adduid
Real name: Anonymous
Email address:
Comment:
You selected this USER-ID:
    "Anonymous"

Now we're ready to delete all others, but need to know which to remove:

gpg&gt; list

pub  2048R/DEADBEEF  created: 2013-07-28  expires: never       usage: SC
                     trust: ultimate      validity: ultimate
sub  2048R/DEADDA7A  created: 2013-07-28  expires: never       usage: E
[ultimate] (1)  Foo Bar &lt;foo.bar@example.net&gt;
[ unknown] (2). Anonymous


Every UID has a number (in parentheses).
Select all UIDs you want to remove (probably all but the newly created one):

gpg&gt; uid 1


And repeat as needed. All selected UIDs will have a star in their record:

[ultimate] (1)* Foo Bar &lt;foo.bar@example.net&gt;

Delete all selected UIDs:

gpg&gt; deluid

Save and exit:

gpg&gt; save





This removes all personal information from your key - including all signatures (each is bound to an UID), so your "stripped down" key will lose all trust.

You will be able to use it like before; usually every OpenPGP encryption container contains your key ID which does not change, neither does your pass phrase.

If you did not publish your key yet, nobody will be able to find out who you are based on your OpenPGP key. As the key ID stays the same, an already published key can be looked up on the keyservers, they will not delete your UIDs but combine all they ever saw. You can never remove a published key or parts of it from the keyservers.

Caveat: The sender now must select which key to encrypt to as his client cannot automatically assign a key to your email address any more (well, you deleted it).