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Some of the arguments often seen on HN against "solving" identity: - The inconsistent, chaotic patchwork of ID systems is more resilient than a monoculture, an
by closeparen 6y ago
Some of the arguments often seen on HN against "solving" identity:
- The inconsistent, chaotic patchwork of ID systems is more resilient than a monoculture, and definitely more resilient than a centralized solution.
- The gaps provide necessary cover for people who need to hide.
- Doubt usually plays in the little guy's favor. The bank eats the loss when it can't prove the debt is yours. Copyright lawsuit fails when it could have been anyone at that IP address.
- The difficulty of strong ID verification is what keeps it from being used gratuitously. A PKI or SSO provider that's too good will soon be required for every little thing.
- Customer identity is something a business should own, not rent.
- perl4ever 6y agoAlso: - SSN is great and works well for everything.
- paranoidrobot 6y agoI hope that's sarcasm. It's a very US-Centric view of the world.
- perl4ever 6y agoIt is sarcasm.
- nneonneo 6y agoYou laugh, but in China, your national ID card is used for nearly everything important, and then your WeChat account or phone number is used for everything else. Almost all logins are done through SMS verification or WeChat login (no passwords in many cases), and your WeChat and phone numbers chain back up to your national ID card. It turns out that you can completely centralize ID and authentication, provided you have a government which is mercilessly willing to violate your privacy...
- Mirioron 6y agoAnd the downside is as was mentioned above: it's required for everything and there will always be a trail that can be traced back to you.
- ufmace 6y agoNice in a way. Just don't ever say or think anything the Government doesn't approve of, because it can all be traced right back to you, and they have a million ways to make your life miserable if they get the slightest hint that you aren't toeing the line.
- Avamander 6y agoThere are European countries that have their own digital IDs that provide authentication and signing.
- the_pwner224 6y ago> The inconsistent, chaotic patchwork of ID systems is more resilient than a monoculture, and definitely more resilient than a centralized solution. This can be done in a decentralized manner where people host their identity. For example, for email you can buy a domain name and set the DNS MX record to point to whichever email server you want to receive email at. For identity you could have a DNS record with a public key, and then use your private key to generate random signed identities for every website. Obviously that's a bit out of reach of normal people, but it can be implimented without too much complexity. And inevitably it'll get pretty centralized for 90% of people, just like 90% of people use a @gmail.com email address, but the option will still be there for those who need it.
- closeparen 6y agoDNS relies on central authorities, who can be and routinely are pressured to revoke identifiers for legal/political targets.