+1  -  Stating Björn's position slightly differently: we need to acknowledge 
explicitly, as a design point, that many passwords are used by "password-aware 
proxies", not by the end-user.


R

Robin Wilton
Technical Outreach Director - Identity and Privacy
Internet Society

email: [email protected]
Phone: +44 705 005 2931
Twitter: @futureidentity




On 12 Nov 2013, at 17:26, Bjoern Hoehrmann wrote:

> * Phillip Hallam-Baker wrote:
>> The biggest weakness in Internet protocols is relying on passwords for
>> authentication. What can we do to make the password mechanisms more secure
>> and to wean the Internet off passwords?
> 
> When I started learning about web development in the late 1990s it came
> a bit as shock to me that other people can know my passwords. They are
> supposed to be secret! Later I learned it isn't even necessary for any-
> one other than me to know my passwords, except for convenience maybe. I
> also learned implementations of mechanisms like HTTP Authentication are
> so bad users cannot know whether they are logged in and cannot log out!
> These days it is normal and expected that devices and operating systems
> steal your passwords and passwords that have been entrusted to you. Not
> to mention this web forms + cookie madness.
> 
> As far as web browsers are concerned, whether you are identifying to a
> web site, using which identity, including login and logout, is clearly
> a browser user interface concern, not a web site concern. My passwords
> are only needed on my devices so they can prove that I have them. These
> days I can easily synchronise them myself by holding my smartphone in
> front of a webcam if copying files over a wireless network is too hard.
> I can also easily back them up by printing a protected version of them.
> Beautifully, I can also use other people's devices to use services that
> I identify to without risking that my passwords are compromised. As far
> as theory is concerned anyway. That is what I would be interested in.
> -- 
> Björn Höhrmann · mailto:[email protected] · http://bjoern.hoehrmann.de
> Am Badedeich 7 · Telefon: +49(0)160/4415681 · http://www.bjoernsworld.de
> 25899 Dagebüll · PGP Pub. KeyID: 0xA4357E78 · http://www.websitedev.de/ 
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