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Real Problems That Web3 Solves, Part 1

billprin.com

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Re: Real Problems That Web3 Solves, Part 1

#311

Post by danielmarkbruce »

spinny wrote: post #55
vanusa wrote: post #49

Great - now I'm forced to be on some blockchain somewhere to get anything done. This is progress?

You are missing the point. The article is about login methods. Username/password vs message signed with a private key. The blockchain part is there because is the only ready-to-use way to do it in an browser. It's absurd how HN users in general are so dismissive of anything cryptocurrency

Blockchain isn't the only "ready to use" way to use cryptographic signatures for authentication. One reason people often are dismissive is because people who are pro crypto say things which aren't true, like this.

Various authentication schemes have used digital signatures...on the web... for decades at this point.

Re: Real Problems That Web3 Solves, Part 1

#312

Post by lmm »

ShamelessC wrote: post #294
lmm wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I am still struggling to understand what immediate and painful need users have with trusting Apple, Facebook, Google etc with their identity. It's not so immediate until you get banned, but they've all been gradually stepping up their politicised banwaves. And there's always the concern about what happens when one of them goes the way of Yahoo. > If people had some issue with this then users would simply not use OA…

What's to stop e.g. Google from creating a blacklist of these public identities again?

Defaults and ease for site operators matter. Google could publish a blacklist but it would be opt-in, and if one blacklist starts being unreasonable then site operators can easily switch to another.

Re: Real Problems That Web3 Solves, Part 1

#313

Post by Tesl »

threeseed wrote: post #239
lmm wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OAuth helps but it still forces you to rely on a single central provider as your "root". So it's not a complete solution.

> still forces you to rely on a single central provider as your "root" So what ? I am still struggling to understand what immediate and painful need users have with trusting Apple, Facebook, Google etc with their identity. If people had some issue with this then users would simply not use OAuth and default to creating an account for each service they use.

Because the number won't go up if we don't decentralise it duh

Re: Real Problems That Web3 Solves, Part 1

#314

Post by ShamelessC »

lmm wrote: post #312
ShamelessC wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's to stop e.g. Google from creating a blacklist of these public identities again?

Defaults and ease for site operators matter. Google could publish a blacklist but it would be opt-in, and if one blacklist starts being unreasonable then site operators can easily switch to another.

What's to stop Google from creating and using an internal blacklist - not for publishing.

Re: Real Problems That Web3 Solves, Part 1

#315

Post by davecheney »

> One common refrain is that “blockchain is a solution in search of a problem.”

After reading this article it seems that the most useful thing someone has thought to use the blockchain for is [checks notes] a form of social media popularity contest to recover the key to your blockchain wallet.

Re: Real Problems That Web3 Solves, Part 1

#316

Post by lmm »

ShamelessC wrote: post #314
lmm wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Defaults and ease for site operators matter. Google could publish a blacklist but it would be opt-in, and if one blacklist starts being unreasonable then site operators can easily switch to another.

What's to stop Google from creating and using an internal blacklist - not for publishing.

Google can blacklist you from Google, but they wouldn't control your login to other sites the way they currently do with OAuth.

Re: Real Problems That Web3 Solves, Part 1

#317

Post by lern_too_spel »

dylkil wrote: post #45
lern_too_spel wrote: post #31

My question with any blockchain application is always what does it solve that a centralized trusted database doesn't solve faster and with less waste? You can implement social recovery in a centralized database with less waste.

trustless, immutable, censorship resistant, permissionless.

How is any of that useful for a particular application? For every single application blockchain has been applied to, these are downsides.

Re: Real Problems That Web3 Solves, Part 1

#319

Post by spurgu »

Sargos wrote: post #263
readams wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And none of that has anything to do with blockchain.

It feels like you're trying really hard to not get web3 any credit here. Try making something like this in the traditional web. People have tried and failed. Ethereum provides a robust, secure, and increasingly usable key storage and usage system to everyone which makes "just signing a message" a simple task and not a 10 step process probably involving a CLI. It's worth considering the utility of this and the possibi…

> Try making something like this in the traditional web. People have tried and failed.

Keybase.io is a quite elegant solution and didn't "fail" due to any fault of its own (the team was acquired by Zoom).

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