People over 55 can opt out of passwords and authentication check.
Posted by Turbulent-Name-8349@reddit | CrazyIdeas | View on Reddit | 56 comments
There are older people who never swear - except when sitting in front of a computer. And it's almost always trying to cope with some excessively complicated combination of password and other authentication.
A typical situation is where a woman's husband has handled the finances and the computing, and he's died. She doesn't have a passport or a driver's licence, and she doesn't have wifi access or a Google account. She may not own a smart phone or tablet. Doesn't know how to download an app. Doesn't have a webcam or scanner.
Now that everything is computerised, authentication is hell for these older people. I know people who can't remember their four digit pin numbers, and haven't a hope in hell of remembering a password.
And at the same time, using the internet is incredibly unsafe, the end of that hyperlink could be a Trojan Horse. Automatic updates can be viruses, or at the very best, bloatware. Tried getting rid of unwanted ads in apps?
People over 55 need to have the option of completely opting out of identification. No passwords, captcha, callback, email confirmation, fingerprints, facial recognition.
ExpensivePanda66@reddit
55? Just where do you think the line is for "older people" who don't know how to use technology?
Turbulent-Name-8349@reddit (OP)
You'd be surprised. By age 55, a person can be half-blind or dyslexic, speak a foreign language or be illiterate. Chances are that at that age that they already dislike "aps" and "the cloud", having grown up without either. If anything, the age should be lowered rather than raised.
Direct-Contract-8737@reddit
when I turned 55 i suddenly started speaking Chinese
Western-Willow-9496@reddit
At least that’s a useful language, could have suddenly started speak an obscure dialect from a pacific island.
Direct-Contract-8737@reddit
啊！完了！我忘掉了英文！
MuchToDoAboutNothin@reddit
My friend was dyslexic at 55.
He was also dyslexic before 55.
Becoming only half blind instead of fully blind was a nice bonus though.
Megalocerus@reddit
That could apply to anyone. What makes you think people at 55 suddenly turn dyslexic? They usually read better than Gen Z.
1kcimbuedheart@reddit
Hahaha “blind, dyslexic, or speak a foreign language” killed me
Adept-Panic-7742@reddit
April fools? A 55 year old now was in their 20s during the 90s, so very capable and common for them to have grown up with computers. I can't think of a single person in that age group who isn't competent with computers.
OverallManagement824@reddit
In fact, we understand command line prompts and reinstalling drivers, some of us were even using computers before Win95, so we know how to load an OS from a disk to use a computer. Nowadays, if it doesn't work, you just download the app again. File structure? What's that?
Shallans_Veil@reddit
Hahahah my parents are 54 and 64, the 54yo is a tech journalist who could completely out do my tech knowledge, the 64yo builds computers and works online. I get that this is Crazyideas so I won't call out your idea, but the notion that people turn into senile ancient relics at the age of 55 is hilarious. I'd better warn my parent about changing jobs before next year.
IJustWantToWorkOK@reddit
55 here.
You're right, I don't like 'the cloud'. I like my stuff stored right here, in a tower stuffed full of good old-fashioned spinning rust. I have literal TB of footage that's priceless to me, and far too significant to me, to trust to a 'cloud provider'. Foortage of real things, and real people, not of me playing a video game.
I back it up periodically by connecting another tower full of drives, and copying everything.
Doesn't mean I don't use it. I have to use it, to do various things in the real world. Doesn't mean I have to like it, either.
When [whatever cloud provider] goes tits-up because of [reasons] and you can't get to your stuff, suddenly I don't look so old-fashioned, do I?
pinniped90@reddit
Bruh, back that stuff up to the cloud ASAP.
Don't abandon your own copies if they give you comfort, but the probability that Azure or AWS completely lose everything is several orders of magnitude lower than the odds a disaster takes out your two or three physical copies.
Cloud providers can do whatever level of HA/DR you require, and their copies will be in different availability zones or regions. So no single earthquake, hurricane, whatever can erase all your data.
IJustWantToWorkOK@reddit
And when that company goes belly-up, or doubles their prices? All sorts of stories I hear of these providers doing that, and people losing access to their stuff. I'm not going to be at the whim of whatever cloud provider. I know where my stuff is.
Something else to consider: not everyone has access to a fast link. I live in a rural area, and have a very SLOW link. Xferring TB's of footage, doesn't work when it takes literal months.
No thank you.
Just as easy to drive my tower over, copy it, do hellacious bongrips with my friend, whilst the copy takes place, and drive it back to where I store it.
pinniped90@reddit
If either Azure or AWS go belly up - all regions everywhere - then already something so catastrophic has happened to the planet that your photos probably will not be a concern. The dozens of ways we're all already dependent upon cloud computing will already be in disarray.
And you don't have to stop making your local copy...
thrwwyunfriended@reddit
You're born with dyslexia...
Noregax@reddit
People can be blind, dyslexic, illiterate, or speak foreign languages at literally any age, and those things don't suddenly become more likely at 55. How high are you?
Ilaxilil@reddit
Right Lamo 55 is gen x, they’re typically pretty good with technology. Maybe for 80+.
arrpix@reddit
Older people (generally much older than 55, think 70+) are already targets for scanners etc, especially when they are confused or frustrated by issues like authentication checks. The way we do authentication right now has tons of issues (like expecting everyone to have a smartphone) and the online ecosystem exacerbates inequality and enshittifies everything, but thya won't be solved by making older people more vulnerable.
ghoti00@reddit
You can use your email address for authentication on almost every single site in existence. That doesn't require a smartphone.
arrpix@reddit
It does if your email has two factor authentication turned on (increasingly impossible to avoid) and you will be logging into it when you don't have access to a house phone eg at your local library. You also need a smartphone if you go to a restaurant that's decided to cut costs by only providing menus and ordering via a QR code, or a venue that only provides accessibility info via QR code, or an event that won't let you print off your tickets, etc, etc. I used to help people with technology (basic stuff like log ins) and this was one of the major sources of frustration that could ultimately lead certain people to being locked out of events and sections of society.
ghoti00@reddit
So your argument is that people do not have access to this technology? That it's unreasonable to expect people to own smartphones? I don't agree with that either but that's a separate argument.
All I said is you can use your email address to do two-factor authentication and that doesn't matter if you're in a library or on the moon as long as you have an internet connection. You don't need a smartphone.
arrpix@reddit
I'm not arguing, I'm pointing out that we expect people to have access to and competency with certain technologies and when they don't, which is much more often the case than a lot of people realise, it can provide significant impediment to people's ability to engage in society.
Megalocerus@reddit
We also expect people to read directions even though some are illiterate. Just another tech !
arrpix@reddit
But we teach reading in school, because it's a useful skill that will be used throughout their life, and for those who make it to adulthood with poor literacy there are tools and free classes available to help. I deed you need to read to engage with most other technology on and offline.
We don't give everyone a free smartphone for life in school, and the only reason to become dependant on them, or QR codes pointing to dead links, to the exclusion of everything else is it enriches private companies. I happen to think every citizen should get a publically supported email address but until that infrastructure is there, requiring an email, a smartphone, or any other technology is by definition exclusionary, and while it makes my life easier so I'd like it to remain an option, I'm not myopic enough to think other options shouldn't also be provided.
Jaceofspades6@reddit
Crazier idea: people stop trying to steal stuff and passwords become unnecessary.
Low_Style175@reddit
Yep just tell criminals to stop being criminals. Problem solved
Mighty_Eagle_2@reddit
How about we just put them in an inescapable box for a long time? That should teach them!
GoBeWithYourFamily@reddit
The craziest idea of all tims
byParallax@reddit
So you want everyone over 55 to get their accounts stolen
Turbulent-Name-8349@reddit (OP)
They already can be. Paywave, Trojan horse on hyperlink, remote access software. There must be at least 40 or so organisations that can already take over my computer without my permission.
Low_Style175@reddit
You just making shit up?
me_irl_mods_suck_ass@reddit
Are you just saying tech words
Dense-Tangerine7502@reddit
If that’s the case then you have no idea what you are doing on your computer.
Do what everyone else does for the old people in their life. Tell them to buy a Mac.
Not saying Macs can’t be hacked, there’s just far fewer of them so scammers don’t bother making software to target them.
byParallax@reddit
40 organisations VS anyone with internet access
reindeermoon@reddit
Hey, this is r/CrazyIdeas, not r/ReasonableIdeas.
Commercial_Place9807@reddit
Could young people also have this option because this shit is a pain in my ass. I get for like my banking account but I don’t need this much security to like pay a bill or order a pizza.
FluffySoftFox@reddit
People over 55 are the main reason those systems exist as this is generally the aged demographic that doesn't understand the importance of internet safety and still uses password as their password for everything
phaqueNaiyem@reddit
So what stops someone else from getting into their accounts? Are you saying that anyone who knows someone else’s email address can take their retirement savings?
Existing_Charity_818@reddit
Authentication keys feel like a better solution for this. Have all passwords loaded onto a USB drive, so there’s no keeping track of things. It becomes imperative not to lose that drive, but it’s a lot simpler and more secure than removing passwords.
ghoti00@reddit
Computers have been common for 40 years and the internet for 30. If you can't use these simple tools at this point you are a giant baby and you have chosen to be helpless. I have no sympathy.
FancyMigrant@reddit
Us 55 year olds built the foundation for the tech you're using, mate, and we did it with shitty tools, no fancy IDE, and hardware that required us to clear memory allocation once we were done with it.
GoBeWithYourFamily@reddit
Okay but now you’re obviously too dumb and fragile to understand the concept of passwords or writing stuff down on a piece of paper
pinniped90@reddit
Counterpoint - there are lots of scammers who would immediately exploit people if this were the case.
We need an entirely better system, and it can be more secure - not less.
Dziadzios@reddit
Just write passwords on paper.
RolandDeepson@reddit
"Let's make it EVEN EASIER to scam senior citizens with man-in-the-middle and phishing attacks."
Shittiest idea I've seen here in a while.
Giant_War_Sausage@reddit
What about instead a new kind of notary public who authenticates ID and provides a code to certify this?
Rivervilla1@reddit
All my online orders are gonna become free when I can log in with any 55+ account
linhartr22@reddit
My wife won't have to worry about this. I've configured my google account to be transferred to my wife if I fail to connect to google for a period of 3 months. This is the account that will be used for password change requests with all of the other important web sites like banks, retirement, social security. You can find the setting here: https://myaccount.google.com/inactive
bertiek@reddit
Get back to your call center, you can't fool us.
Future_Usual_8698@reddit
55 is signing the paychecks, wtf?
deleted_by_reddit@reddit
[removed]
AutoModerator@reddit
Your post was automatically removed because it contains political content, which is off-topic for /r/CrazyIdeas. Please review the subreddit rules and guidelines.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
Agent_Retro@reddit
It isn't a age thing, people who have these problems are born like that.
sunny2_0@reddit
At 1st i red penguins over 55 😭
netechkyle@reddit
I have several older clients who I will not give some passwords to, one who the bank will not let write checks or withdraw over 500$. Sure you can have your outlook with your AOL email address, but I created a Google account for you and only your kids can have the password.