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Passkeys are now enabled by default for Google users

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Re: Passkeys are now enabled by default for Google users

#92
post #28

Never. You can pry my passwords from my cold, dead hands.

Someday, we will have brain reading technology to extract information from a newly dead brain, like we have to extract it from a RAM that was just turned off https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_boot_attack

Re: Passkeys are now enabled by default for Google users

#93
post #44
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You go through.... account recovery? Like if you lose your password today?

Ah right, account recovery. The one that tells me the only way to sign in to my old Google account is to use a phone that no longer exists.

Google has notoriously horrible customer service, or none at all ... A Google Domains issue took me months to resolve, I couldn't contact a human.

Re: Passkeys are now enabled by default for Google users

#94
post #34
post #10

Nope, not signing up. The trend from Google continues to be towards "if you lose your phone with your credentials, you will be unable to log in". And Google refuses to create a scalable system that allows you access to your account by verifying your identity in person. This is a recipe for disaster. And, possibly, a warning to move off GMail before it gets worse.

I'm about at the threshold for wanting to de-google my life. Do you have an alternative email provide you recommend?

Not parent but the more important thing in "de-googling" is to move your logins to your own domain. That way you are not tied to a single provider and can always switch if your current one starts degrading.

After over a decade of @gmail being my primary personal email it is pretty painstaking to move all of my logins over, and some services do not allow you to change your email at all so your mileage may vary.

Re: Passkeys are now enabled by default for Google users

#95
post #38

As usual, the multi-device/multi-OS and recovery scenarios are simply just glossed over. I'll stick with a password vault I can sync to multiple OSes, thanks.

The vaults have been adding passkey support (1Password already has it, for instance).

Re: Passkeys are now enabled by default for Google users

#97
post #21
post #13

As a user I still don't understand this. What happens if there's a house fire or something and all my devices where I'm logged in with Google break? How do I log into my account again?

To add, it is pretty poor there is no FAQ linked to from that post to answer basic non-technical questions as to how this is intended to be used. I assume as a technical person, the answer is I should have a backup device with a friend and/or store my passkeys somehow on my Apple or Microsoft or password manager account as well. But it needs more explanation in detail from Google!

You have a valid concern, but I'm curious how many sufficiently non-technical users would be reading Google's blog. Practically speaking, it could be a moot point.

Re: Passkeys are now enabled by default for Google users

#99

Finger prints and face scans are better replacements for user names than passwords. I had read some good things about YubiKey, but I don't think I could get it to work on my corporate computerr.

Passkeys aren't "finger prints and face scans." They're dolled-up versions of SSH key authentication.

Just as SSH private keys can have passphrases to unlock them, passkeys can have passwords, passphrases, PINs, or biometrics to unlock them too. Servers don't authenticate you on those PINs or biometrics; those merely unlock the associated private key.

Re: Passkeys are now enabled by default for Google users

#100
post #57
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm about at the threshold for wanting to de-google my life. Do you have an alternative email provide you recommend?

I use fastmail.com because I wanted to use my own domain. They're not free - make of that what you will.

Fastmail rocks. I decided years ago to be the customer not the product, so I don't mind paying for services I use.

An added benefit of Fastmail is somehow its calendar is able to sync between my Outlook work calendar and some shared Google calendars I have, while Google is completely unable to reliably sync a shared Outlook calendar for me.

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