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Ethereum community has solved a major problem of the Internet: Single Sign-On

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Re: Ethereum community has solved a major problem of the Internet: Single Sign-On

#21

Post by mondoveneziano »

tptacek wrote: post #10

This is an extremely solved problem. Unless you have a dramatically interesting solution to the real hard problem, global account recovery , ordinary home users are effectively tethered to their email accounts, because that's how you reset a login. Since you're doing that already, "Sign in with Google" and "Sign in with Apple" are perfectly cromulent solutions and likely to continue dominating. The actual last thing…

> The actual last thing in the world home users want is an authentication system where credential loss is literally irrevocable.

This is generally a concern I have about blockchain technology. What if it succeeds in its goal to play a major role in some sector, and something immensely important becomes attached to it.

Mistakes happen. Both by humans and by computers. Software having bugs, hardware failing, bits randomly changing in RAM, are all obvious and commonplace. Mitigations exist (ECC, signatures...), but never along the whole chain. For example, BTC addresses might have checksums, but if the wrong row in a database deciding the address is selected in the first place, through human, software, or hardware error, that will not matter.

Do we want to attach extremely important things to a system that is by design irreversible?

Re: Ethereum community has solved a major problem of the Internet: Single Sign-On

#22

Post by psanford »

jonplackett wrote: post #15
tptacek wrote: post #10

This is an extremely solved problem. Unless you have a dramatically interesting solution to the real hard problem, global account recovery , ordinary home users are effectively tethered to their email accounts, because that's how you reset a login. Since you're doing that already, "Sign in with Google" and "Sign in with Apple" are perfectly cromulent solutions and likely to continue dominating. The actual last thing…

Anyone else wondering what cromulent means: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/what-does-crom...

The word 'cromulent' embiggens the smallest man.

Re: Ethereum community has solved a major problem of the Internet: Single Sign-On

#23

Post by bl557 »

mondoveneziano wrote: post #21
tptacek wrote: post #10

This is an extremely solved problem. Unless you have a dramatically interesting solution to the real hard problem, global account recovery , ordinary home users are effectively tethered to their email accounts, because that's how you reset a login. Since you're doing that already, "Sign in with Google" and "Sign in with Apple" are perfectly cromulent solutions and likely to continue dominating. The actual last thing…

> The actual last thing in the world home users want is an authentication system where credential loss is literally irrevocable. This is generally a concern I have about blockchain technology. What if it succeeds in its goal to play a major role in some sector, and something immensely important becomes attached to it. Mistakes happen. Both by humans and by computers. Software having bugs, hardware failing, bits rando…

by that logic we would never drive cars, ride airplanes, go to space, etc

Re: Ethereum community has solved a major problem of the Internet: Single Sign-On

#25

Post by anyfoo »

DarmokJalad1701 wrote: post #18
jonplackett wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone else wondering what cromulent means: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/what-does-crom...

The word reminds me of scones for some reason ...

Weird. I knew the word already (though not for long), but as a non-native English speaker (German), it also always evoked pictures of scones, or in my case croissants, for me. Maybe because it sounds like "crumbling"?

By the way, on a Mac you can just force press on any word, it gives a definition. Very useful.

Re: Ethereum community has solved a major problem of the Internet: Single Sign-On

#26

Post by chrischen »

whoknew1122 wrote: post #20

So the Director of Operations of ENS Domains says Ethereum has solved an extremely solved problem and one of the cornerstones of that solution is... wait for it... ENS Domains. Gotcha. I also take issue with: >Ethereum is giving average ppl computer generated public/private key pairs... 'Average' people aren't into crypto. And the average computer user doesn't know how to use asymmetric keypairs. Anyone want to try t…

What is this hypothetical “average” person, and if you aren’t one (presumably) then how do you know what they are?

Re: Ethereum community has solved a major problem of the Internet: Single Sign-On

#27

Post by pixel_fcker »

anyfoo wrote: post #11
saba2008 wrote: post #3

> an average person having one username and password/authentication method that works across all services It's a bug, not a feature. It's people throwing away their privacy for convenience. It's proverbial dancing piggies. Problem with global-scale SSO is not corporations, that control shared identity. It's shared identity itself. Distributed SSO is as good idea, as eco-friendly vegan huffing solvent.

Yeah, SSO does not seem to be a problem inside e.g. corporations. The SSO solutions I've encountered there work rather well, and nowadays employees authenticate not much more than once or twice a day to get access to everything. SSO outside of such closed realms, i.e. in the open Internet, rather only seems to be a "problem" because people don't want to adopt it. Instead, password managers are the solution that won.…

> nowadays employees authenticate not much more than once or twice a day to get access to everything.

Unless you have multiple devices, in which case it feels like you’re logging in constantly

Re: Ethereum community has solved a major problem of the Internet: Single Sign-On

#28

Post by chrisweekly »

jonplackett wrote: post #19
DarmokJalad1701 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The word reminds me of scones for some reason ...

I wondered if it was a reference to Oliver Cromwell who was known for his utilitarian manner. Scones sounds tastier.

Thomas Cromwell is the historical figure "cromulent" triggers for me; the Wolf Hall trilogy is worthwhile historical fiction.

Re: Ethereum community has solved a major problem of the Internet: Single Sign-On

#29

Post by mattbee »

There were loads of vendor-neutral identity ideas that all fell flat because nobody wants to sign up just for an identity.

This one is hilariously complicated; the thread ends with this call to action:

Want to get a portable web3 account?

Pick an Eth wallet: https://ethereum.org/en/wallets/find-wallet/

Get ETH (sometimes built into wallet, otherwise use a service like Coinbase)

Get an ENS name: http://app.ens.domains * (Choose which is your username by setting reverse record at My Account)*

It's that easy!

I think the author underestimates how little most people care about their weak passwords, or centralised authentication.

Re: Ethereum community has solved a major problem of the Internet: Single Sign-On

#30

Post by simonmales »

mondoveneziano wrote: post #21
tptacek wrote: post #10

This is an extremely solved problem. Unless you have a dramatically interesting solution to the real hard problem, global account recovery , ordinary home users are effectively tethered to their email accounts, because that's how you reset a login. Since you're doing that already, "Sign in with Google" and "Sign in with Apple" are perfectly cromulent solutions and likely to continue dominating. The actual last thing…

> The actual last thing in the world home users want is an authentication system where credential loss is literally irrevocable. This is generally a concern I have about blockchain technology. What if it succeeds in its goal to play a major role in some sector, and something immensely important becomes attached to it. Mistakes happen. Both by humans and by computers. Software having bugs, hardware failing, bits rando…

Vitalk of Ethereum fame has an interesting concept how to make this less irreversible.

Problem here is the hard work needs to be done at the beginning. E.g. picture your grandparent needing help using the below.

As a power user, I like it.

Social recovery wallets: https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/01/11/recovery.html

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