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SSS is one of those things that remains highly un-ergonomic. We'll see how it works out, but I suspect that a lot of people are going to be in for interesting s

SSS is one of those things that remains highly un-ergonomic. We'll see how it works out, but I suspect that a lot of people are going to be in for interesting surprises when they chose not to use k-of-n and one of their friends lost a key part. A lot of tech people become very attracted to fun ideas (I definitely remember people falling in love with SSS decades ago). But building foolproof systems is not just about cryptography. Heck, the very first "Why Johnny Can't..." was precisely about a solid cryptographic system nonetheless leading to people fucking up all the time. And you absolutely could publish an encrypted password and distribute key parts in precisely the same manner, enabling your quorum of friends to access your bank accounts or whatever.

lrvick 5y ago
What about when the banking system mandates password rotation, or randomly closes the account because of suspected fraud, or it gets wiped out due to actual fraud, or it gets frozen because of a pending investigation, or gets drained dry without warning over a forgotten debt etc. Bank accounts are brittle and I have seen every one of these situations happen to myself, family, or friends. Also not to mention leaving USD in a bank account long term rots it to inflation. Meanwhile in crypto-assets the funds stay exactly where they are and are impossible to move until a private key is available. Shamirs. hardware wallets in vaults, paper wallets... the point is you have choice and control. Any process documented well enough can be followed in the future. We still cook recipes generations old after all.
- UncleMeat 5y ago
  Ok. Those are completely different issues to the one we are discussing. We were talking about accessing credentials and funds when somebody dies. Swapping to talking about incorrect account closures or inflation is just changing the subject. Yes, nobody can close your wallet (well sort of, big players like Coinbase or OpenSea can absolutely treat your wallet as poisoned and refuse to transact with you). This is a frustrating component of the discussion about crypto. “It is better for survivors” shouldn’t be defended with “inflation is bad.”

lrvick 5y ago

What about when the banking system mandates password rotation, or randomly closes the account because of suspected fraud, or it gets wiped out due to actual fraud, or it gets frozen because of a pending investigation, or gets drained dry without warning over a forgotten debt etc. Bank accounts are brittle and I have seen every one of these situations happen to myself, family, or friends. Also not to mention leaving USD in a bank account long term rots it to inflation. Meanwhile in crypto-assets the funds stay exactly where they are and are impossible to move until a private key is available. Shamirs. hardware wallets in vaults, paper wallets... the point is you have choice and control. Any process documented well enough can be followed in the future. We still cook recipes generations old after all.

UncleMeat 5y ago
Ok. Those are completely different issues to the one we are discussing. We were talking about accessing credentials and funds when somebody dies. Swapping to talking about incorrect account closures or inflation is just changing the subject. Yes, nobody can close your wallet (well sort of, big players like Coinbase or OpenSea can absolutely treat your wallet as poisoned and refuse to transact with you). This is a frustrating component of the discussion about crypto. “It is better for survivors” shouldn’t be defended with “inflation is bad.”