> I'm definitely a bit sus'd to run OpenClaw specifically - giving my private data/keys to 400K lines of vibe coded monster that is being actively attacked at scale is not very appealing at all.
So... why do that, then?
To be clear, I don't mean "why use agents?" I get it: they're novel, and it's fun to tinker with things.
But rather: why are you giving this thing that you don't trust, your existing keys (so that it can do things masquerading as you), and your existing data (as if it were a confidante you were telling your deepest secrets)?
You wouldn't do this with a human you hired off the street. Even if you're hiring them to be your personal assistant. Giving them your own keys, especially, is like giving them power-of-attorney over your digital life. (And, since they're your keys, their actions can't even be distinguished from your own in an audit log.)
Here's what you would do with a human you're hiring as a personal assistant (who, for some reason, doesn't already have any kind of online identity):
1. you'd make them a new set of credentials and accounts to call their own, rather than giving them access to yours. (Concrete example: giving a coding agent its own Github account, with its own SSH keys it uses to identify as itself.)
2. you'd grant those accounts limited ACLs against your own existing data, just as needed to work on each new project you assign to them. (Concrete example: letting a coding agent's Github user access to fork specific private repos of yours, and the ability to submit PRs back to you.)
3. at first, you'd test them by assigning them to work on greenfield projects for you, that don't expose any sensitive data to them. (The data created in the work process might gradually become "sensitive data", e.g. IP, but that's fine.)
To me, this is the only sane approach. But I don't hear about anyone doing this with agents. Why?