The Steemian identity crisis - what losing your password or changing account really means...

Source:https://icons8.com/icon/48349/anonymous-mask

A couple of recent conversations and observations lead me to ponder the issue of identity in the digital world, especially since there are some serious implications that come with the establishment and loss/theft of identity online, and I recently explored the topic of identity in a previous post:

https://steemit.com/makesteemitgreat-again/@plushzilla/the-steemian-identity-crisis-what-a-picture-of-you-holding-up-a-card-really-means

There I spoke about a physical identity, a digital identity and a consensus identity, which I think is something that we can do better when it comes to the current process of losing your password (something that is just bad luck if it happens to you) or changing accounts and having to rebuild your reputation.

I am always amused when systems or applications are built that are much less effective compared to real world situations, because one of the supposed benefits of technology is to improve efficiency. Take the example of losing your password on a social media account or someone hijacking your account. Think about how difficult it would be for this to happen in a real world situation (i.e. someone posing as you to do something malicious) because of the three levels of identity that they must assume. Even if they can learn to talk like you (physical) or take over transactions that you carry out (digital), it is still impossible to behave like you around all the people that you come into contact with. The only example I can think of is if you lost your short term and long term memory, and people have to help you regain your memory by telling you who you are and showing you evidence of your identity/existence.

Yet we don't have the same level of security or identity on the internet, even with something like the blockchain applications that are supposed to provide a level of transparency and openness that is hard to hack/hijack. This is why I am an advocate for building real-world interactions into steemit applications because the value of the community lies in the interactions that happen between people and not bots (or people with bots):

• https://steemit.com/utopian-io/@plushzilla/how-to-reward-the-effort-and-not-the-post-a-proposal-for-real-life-activity-reward-systems
• https://steemit.com/makesteemitgreat-again/@plushzilla/how-to-reward-the-effort-and-not-the-post-real-life-interactions-that-are-just-as-valuable-as-posts

Don't you think it is rather absurd that in the real world you can lose your identity papers but still not lose your identity, yet in the digital world when you lose your password then your identity is effectively lost or passed onto whoever hijacks it? Also, when you create another account on steemit you have to re-establish the credentials of that account when in fact it is just the same person doing something else. And what about the malicious user that can simply set up another account when they are exposed and start over again with impunity?

Think about this carefully the next time you lose your password or start a new account on steemit... I think losing your balance is one thing (because who really owns money anyway?), but losing your identity is something that we shouldn't allow to happen so easily. It doesn't happen in the real world without a lot of effort (at least according to novels where people fake their own death and start over again) so why does it happen so easily in the online community?

What can we do about it to improve the privacy and security for this brave new world on the blockchain?