Thanks for your comments, and I think I see the ambition of the project. We'll see how far it goes. I hope that the powers that be in this space see the risks they're creating, recognize that they are increasing the blast radius of account loss, and take some efforts to mitigate them.
Honestly, if they don't, they may find themselves under significant government regulation. The DMV in most states is hard to work with, but they work with everyone, regardless of disability, felony record, reprehensible views, everyone. If we're going to allow these companies to take this authoritative role in our systems, they should necessarily lose the right to refuse service. If they don't want that trade-off, then they should hand the whole thing to login.gov and other Government Identity schemes.
The best hinge point I would use in conversation with these players is to plan for third-party access from the beginning. Systems like Lastpass and Bitwarden have built robust systems for emergency access in the event of hospitalization or death. They've done so because its needed, often. If the Big 3 commit to allowing some access-for-transfer-out when accounts are closed or access is lost, even in non-ideal situations, that would go a long way.
Honestly, if they don't, they may find themselves under significant government regulation. The DMV in most states is hard to work with, but they work with everyone, regardless of disability, felony record, reprehensible views, everyone. If we're going to allow these companies to take this authoritative role in our systems, they should necessarily lose the right to refuse service. If they don't want that trade-off, then they should hand the whole thing to login.gov and other Government Identity schemes.
The best hinge point I would use in conversation with these players is to plan for third-party access from the beginning. Systems like Lastpass and Bitwarden have built robust systems for emergency access in the event of hospitalization or death. They've done so because its needed, often. If the Big 3 commit to allowing some access-for-transfer-out when accounts are closed or access is lost, even in non-ideal situations, that would go a long way.