Ask HN: Why not rethink Web Identity with browser sync and push?

#1

Post by mathnmusic » Fri, May 10, 2019, 9:14 PM UTC

The primary (benign) reasons why websites/webapps needed account creation / registration were two;

- So that users could access their account from multiple devices at home / work, desktop / mobile etc.

- The Site/app developer had some way to reach the user for various reasons. They needed not just an identity but also a communication channel.

But today's browsers already support syncing across multiple devices AND push notifications.

Combining both of these, we can do away with signup and login forms - simplifying the UX a lot AND avoiding privacy dangers that come with server-side registration using email address / phone etc.

We may need to provide the users more control on filtering, searching, and archiving browser push notifications, but this would be a one-time effort per browser and would actually be much more empowering. We could even support multiple accounts using containers in browsers.

Has this been attempted? As a user, will you prefer this?

Re: Ask HN: Why not rethink Web Identity with browser sync and push?

#2

Post by learn_awesome » Fri, May 10, 2019, 9:54 PM UTC

One problem would be that we don't have syncing that works ACROSS browsers from different vendors. That might be easy to implement technically, but getting competitors to coordinate is going to be a tough battle.

Then there would be little UX issues such as not knowing the name of the user for using in messaging within the apps. You'd need a "Complete your profile" form instead of a "Register" form. However, I do concede that even that would be an improvement over current systems.

Re: Ask HN: Why not rethink Web Identity with browser sync and push?

#3

Post by nileshtrivedi » Sat, May 11, 2019, 3:56 AM UTC

Interesting idea. But do browsers sync cookies across devices? Are you suggesting that they start doing so for all cookies or a single one specially meant for this purpose?

This would also require browsers to implement unified notification view across all devices.

Both of these will be interesting features on their own.

Re: Ask HN: Why not rethink Web Identity with browser sync and push?

#4

Post by dredmorbius » Wed, May 15, 2019, 2:50 PM UTC

I'd suggest thinking through the Usenet model. What it was, what worked, what did not.

And the design and flaws of HTTP basic auth.

Keep in mind that FB are now deleting ~1m accounts/dy, employing over 30k reviewers.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=FY_NtO7SIrY (at about 10m50s).