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I don't like passkeys

853 points · 819 comments · ethanhawksley

  1. kenrick95 · · focus · HN ↗
    Passkeys have a marketing problem where no one is able to describe simply what it is without having to use technical jargon. There's also the problem where each OS tries too hard in pushing this to the face of end-user
    1. cfiggers · · focus · HN ↗
      Imagine a password, but it a) types itself for you and b) detects when it's being sent to an impostor site and blocks them from seeing itself, so it can't be phished.

      Tada, passkeys.

      1. rcxdude · · focus · HN ↗
        Cool, where are they stored? (I know the answer: 'it depends', and that's the big problem with their usability: most users haven't a clue what the answer is and most tech support can't answer that question straightforwardly because it depends on some decisions the user probably didn't even realise they made).
        1. iamnothere · · focus · HN ↗
          On my keychain in a USB hardware token. With a couple of backup tokens in fire safes.
          1. UltraSane · · focus · HN ↗
            The biggest issue with passkeys is that since most USB tokens that support them don't allow syncing the private key to a backup device you have to enroll ALL of them to every site that supports passkeys. This is annoying but it makes storing backups in secure offsite locations impractical.
            1. iamnothere · · focus · HN ↗
              [delayed]
              1. mrguyorama · · focus · HN ↗
                The entire problem with passkeys is that zero of the issues should have been a surprise, because it should have been part of the design discussion from the start, so the fact that it's not properly implemented before being forced on users says that either it's been done horrifically incompetently and nobody should trust it, or they internally found these concerns and ignored them which means this system is not at all meant to help us, so why is it being forced on us?
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