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I myself am a "single source for authentication/authorization" and i dont think it is stupid at all. It is just hard to tell it to a machine. So i am ok to use

by okr 4y ago

I myself am a "single source for authentication/authorization" and i dont think it is stupid at all. It is just hard to tell it to a machine. So i am ok to use a token for that. The trouble for me are the instances, that want to certify, that i am me. I dont need them, but they are there. The middleman, who wants to have a say, to allow or deny. I have no problem to tell a token, that it is me. I am pretty happy to self-certify myself.

KronisLV 4y ago
> It is just hard to tell it to a machine. Well, that's the crux of the problem, isn't it? We need a way for you to confirm that it's you and not someone else who has stolen your credentials. Multiple factors of authentication generally work well enough against this. Same for physical devices, be it those eID cards or something like YubiKey or whatever. > I am pretty happy to self-certify myself. Well, that's how GPG/PGP works - as long as you give your public key to other people by yourself, be it in person or otherwise. Then you can manage the private certificates for signing stuff yourself however you wish - be it keeping them in a cloud account somewhere (hopefully not), on a local HDD, a USB stick, or printed on a piece of paper where you'd re-type it as necessary (just a silly example). The problem is that people want a central authority for certain cases, such as interacting with the government - with the appropriate set of software and middleware built around it, so less technically literate people could just put the card in a reader, input a few codes in some official software and be on their way, rather than trying to figure out what the hell a keychain is.
smaudet 4y ago
"and i dont think it is stupid at all" Actually it is - while you provide for yourself and that may be fine, if you have dependents, having daddy be the single source of authentication for everything is pretty damn stupid. You might have accounts for your kids but they need to actually access those accounts. If you end up in a coma in the hospital, again, having yourself as the single source of authentication for medical purposes is pretty dumb, too. If you have any group of people dependent upon a thing, having yourself as the single source of authentication is pretty damn stupid. Look up how nuclear missiles are/were protected, if you want a real world tech example. This thing where people assume they are the only thing in the world so whatever they want is fine for everybody else, that the real fucking stupid thing.

by okr 4y ago

KronisLV 4y ago

> It is just hard to tell it to a machine. Well, that's the crux of the problem, isn't it? We need a way for you to confirm that it's you and not someone else who has stolen your credentials. Multiple factors of authentication generally work well enough against this. Same for physical devices, be it those eID cards or something like YubiKey or whatever. > I am pretty happy to self-certify myself. Well, that's how GPG/PGP works - as long as you give your public key to other people by yourself, be it in person or otherwise. Then you can manage the private certificates for signing stuff yourself however you wish - be it keeping them in a cloud account somewhere (hopefully not), on a local HDD, a USB stick, or printed on a piece of paper where you'd re-type it as necessary (just a silly example). The problem is that people want a central authority for certain cases, such as interacting with the government - with the appropriate set of software and middleware built around it, so less technically literate people could just put the card in a reader, input a few codes in some official software and be on their way, rather than trying to figure out what the hell a keychain is.

smaudet 4y ago

"and i dont think it is stupid at all" Actually it is - while you provide for yourself and that may be fine, if you have dependents, having daddy be the single source of authentication for everything is pretty damn stupid. You might have accounts for your kids but they need to actually access those accounts. If you end up in a coma in the hospital, again, having yourself as the single source of authentication for medical purposes is pretty dumb, too. If you have any group of people dependent upon a thing, having yourself as the single source of authentication is pretty damn stupid. Look up how nuclear missiles are/were protected, if you want a real world tech example. This thing where people assume they are the only thing in the world so whatever they want is fine for everybody else, that the real fucking stupid thing.