Nothing was lost from wiping the keys because it wasn't going to be possible to push a non-compromised update. I also needed fresh, untainted keys not associated with that incarnation of the project due to the threats to weaponize the police / legal system with a false narrative.
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I'm currently still hard at work reviving the project. An enormous amount of damage was done to the project through theft of the donations, revenue, the primary means of communication with the community (email list, IRC channel, Matrix room, Twitter account, subreddit) and more.
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I've had a very difficult time over the past year and a half. I founded this project and developed / maintained all of it over the years. I co-founded a company that was supposed to sponsor it, but it took far more than it provided even before it was hijacked and turned on me.
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A year and a half later, James Donaldson is still doing whatever he can to harm the project and myself. He's using the project's legacy donations, revenue, mailing list, Twitter account, etc. as weapons to damage it, and is still attempting to scam people/companies out of money.
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If it wasn't for malicious people aiming to destroy it, GrapheneOS would be much further along. It would have a substantial development team and hardware partners producing experimental generations of hardened smartphones. I don't think people realize how much James burned down.
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Also, if you're wondering based on that quote, is aware of what happened with the previous incarnation of the OS. People say lots of nasty things about him but he was there providing support after what happened and GrapheneOS would not still be around today without that.
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I have nothing nice to say about Snowden, but it's besides the point in this situation.
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He made it possible for me to defend myself and continue my work without him getting anything in return or any recognition for it. It would have gotten wiped out without that support, and I wouldn't be involved in privacy / security or perhaps even software development at all.
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So, you should have at least one nice thing to say about him if you appreciate my work including Auditor, hardened_malloc and GrapheneOS. He went out of his way to support me without even expecting me to continue my work. It's not my usual experience with people and I'm grateful.
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I understand and sympathize, but the 'bad people did this nice thing' argument has been a way to minimize the bad actions they took quite often. I'm glad he helped you out, it does not change my perception of him however, some of us interacted w/him before he made himself famous.
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I'm not trying to say that a bad person did a nice thing because I never thought he was a bad person. When I talk about people saying nasty things I mostly mean within the infosec bubble I've created with who I follow, where people often bash him for not being super technical.
Fair enough, and I didn't really question your motives, I'm just careful about certain people for reasons you have also been pretty strong about (namely: broken stairs).