[neilv]

You need more than a corporate reputation.

We're an entire industry of liars and poseurs.

It would be easy to make even a completely bad-actor company with years of stellar reputation.

Either as a sleeper for some future big attack, or one that only rarely and secretly takes action against very high value targets.

[mixmastamyk]

And how will a name and address prevent that?

[neilv]

I don't think I said anything about an address. They've given some names, but that doesn't say why they should be trusted.

Two examples of people who have established some trust over the years: Linus Torvalds and RMS.

Joking scenario to illustrate...

Badguy: "This is it, Torvalds! Give us the Linux launch codes, or I shoot you!"

Torvalds: "Launch codes? I'm angry that you are wasting everyone's time, when clearly you don't know what you are doing, and are not bothering to get help to do it properly."

Badguy: "How about your friend! Give us the codes, or I shoot Stallman!"

Stallman: "Excuse me, but when you say Linux, I think you mean GNU/Linux, since Linux is a kernel, which is only one piece of the operating system, and used with--"

Badguy: "Argh! I can't take you nerds anymore!" shoots self in head