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For a consumer mail service, you to need to know enough to let them recover their account, possibly with decades of un-backed-up correspondence with and photos
by osteele 9y ago
For a consumer mail service, you to need to know enough to let them recover their account, possibly with decades of un-backed-up correspondence with and photos of since-deceased friends and relatives, when they’ve forgotten their password, and without letting someone else recover their account. This is a hard problem.
(I’m expecting some idealized “solutions” from people with idealized beliefs about mass market tech skills.)
- Karunamon 9y agoYou also need a process for resolving ownership disputes. Facebook takes the tactic of having the person claiming ownership upload government-issued ID, which seems like it would be the only foolproof way to do so, yet they're constantly maligned for it.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- nameless912 9y agoWhy don't we just <incredibly naive solution that does nothing to help, but somehow also involves the blockchain>?
- tambienben 9y agoMost sites solve this problem with a combination of 2fA and at least one security question. Having my phone number isn't even good 2fA.
- abraae 9y agoThis is such a nasty area, with such crappy solutions (name of your first pet), that it should become a service all of its own. i.e. when I sign up with you, I can choose my own preferred vendor to handle identity recovery.