"npm install -g keybase-installer" failed to fetch from registry: keybase-installer

I got the following output on Ubuntu 12.04:

info it worked if it ends with ok
verbose cli [ 'node', '/usr/bin/npm', 'install', '-g', 'keybase-installer' ]
info using npm@1.1.4
info using node@v0.6.12
verbose config file /home/liz/.npmrc
verbose config file /usr/etc/npmrc
verbose config file /usr/share/npm/npmrc
verbose umasking from 77 755
verbose cache add [ 'keybase-installer', null ]
silly cache add: name, spec, args [ undefined, 'keybase-installer', [ 'keybase-installer', null ] ]
verbose parsed url { pathname: 'keybase-installer',
verbose parsed url path: 'keybase-installer',
verbose parsed url href: 'keybase-installer' }
verbose addNamed [ 'keybase-installer', '' ]
verbose addNamed [ null, '' ]
silly name, range, hasData [ 'keybase-installer', '', false ]
verbose raw, before any munging keybase-installer
verbose url resolving [ 'https://registry.npmjs.org/', './keybase-installer' ]
verbose url resolved https://registry.npmjs.org/keybase-installer
http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/keybase-installer
ERR! Error: failed to fetch from registry: keybase-installer
ERR! at /usr/share/npm/lib/utils/npm-registry-client/get.js:139:12
ERR! at cb (/usr/share/npm/lib/utils/npm-registry-client/request.js:31:9)
ERR! at Request._callback (/usr/share/npm/lib/utils/npm-registry-client/request.js:136:18)
ERR! at Request.callback (/usr/lib/nodejs/request/main.js:119:22)
ERR! at Request. (/usr/lib/nodejs/request/main.js:212:58)
ERR! at Request.emit (events.js:88:20)
ERR! at ClientRequest. (/usr/lib/nodejs/request/main.js:412:12)
ERR! at ClientRequest.emit (events.js:67:17)
ERR! at HTTPParser.onIncoming (http.js:1261:11)
ERR! at HTTPParser.onHeadersComplete (http.js:102:31)
ERR! You may report this log at:
ERR! http://bugs.debian.org/npm
ERR! or use
ERR! reportbug --attach /home/liz/npm-debug.log npm
ERR!
ERR! System Linux 3.2.0-59-generic
ERR! command "node" "/usr/bin/npm" "install" "-g" "keybase-installer"
ERR! cwd /home/liz
ERR! node -v v0.6.12
ERR! npm -v 1.1.4
ERR! message failed to fetch from registry: keybase-installer
verbose exit [ 1, true ]

Reproduce the command on Ubuntu 12.04 with node v0.6.12 and npm 1.1.4, then inspect the registry request path in /usr/share/npm/lib/utils/npm-registry-client/get.js and request.js. Determine why fetching keybase-installer fails and define completion as a successful install or a clearly documented, reproducible cause.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.