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Question that sounds idiotic but is quite serious: how do I make it illegal to lend money to me without confirmation via Keybase? (edit: or some similar cryptog
by ineptech 3y ago
Question that sounds idiotic but is quite serious: how do I make it illegal to lend money to me without confirmation via Keybase? (edit: or some similar cryptographic identity proof)
The only reason to keep my name/address/SSN secret is that companies will lend money to a person who has that info, and then try to make me liable for it regardless of whether that person was me. That's a problem, but the solution isn't for me to keep my identity secret, it's for companies to stop doing that.
I should be able to march into some government office, prove my identity to their satisfaction, and give them a private key. Then, if Wells Fargo lends money to someone who can't prove ownership of that key, that's Wells Fargo's problem. Keybase does this fairly well, and is essentially abandonware since the founders were (if I remember right) acquihired by Signal. So, can we just nationalize it or build something similar, declare it to be SSNv2, and move on with our lives?
- bagels 3y agoYou contribute to campaigns of politicians (aka bribe) and write legislation for them to pass.
- ineptech 3y agoI don't have enough time left on this Earth to explain the concept in a way that politicians could implement, I'm in my 40s. In my preferred alternate universe, Keybase was sold to a benevolent billionaire. Or more realistically, a normal billionaire who intended to run it at a loss until he could leverage it to effect world domination, but managed to mess it up somehow and get it nationalized. Or something. I can dream...
- briffle 3y agoOr scour through these breaches, thinking of how to embarrass the lawmakers with info you find in them. Maybe when it affects the fancy people, they will start making laws to protect themselves, and hopefully include us in it.
- jimt1234 3y agoSpeaking of Keybase, is it still supported? I just launched mine after a multi-week hiatus, and I'm getting an error: "x509: certificate signed by unknown authority" Hmmm.
- ineptech 3y agoI'm not sure? Mine still works but I've had to manually upgrade it a few times. For a scheme like this we'd probably need to reimplement it (just the public keyring and challenge proofs on social media platforms, not the crypto cruft). Helpfully I think the client is FOSS.
- duskwuff 3y ago> Speaking of Keybase, is it still supported? For all intents and purposes, Keybase was abandoned the moment the team was acquired by Zoom.
- quesera 3y agoMinus all the complicated implementation details, this is possible. It's called a credit freeze: https://www.usa.gov/credit-freeze https://www.usa.gov/credit-freeze
- rz2k 3y agoOnce you’ve created free accounts at each of the CRAs, here are the direct links to freeze/unfreeze your file. - https://usa.experian.com/mfe/regulatory/security-freeze https://usa.experian.com/mfe/regulatory/security-freeze - https://my.equifax.com/membercenter/#/freeze https://my.equifax.com/membercenter/#/freeze - https://service.transunion.com/dss/freezeStatus.page https://service.transunion.com/dss/freezeStatus.page Ignore anything about “locking” your credit, because this made up term is not the one that has been defined by Congress. “Freezing” your credit is the real action, and it also must be free of charge. The direct links are useful, because the CRAs definitely want to mislead you into purchasing unnecessary services.