Not that I disagree, but we have possibly the world's most boring login system with nothing but email/password and even then people manage to create multiple accounts. And then john.smith@example.com will email us, asking why the facilities they set up last month aren't working any more, completely failing to mention that they set them up using their john.smith.666@example.com account.
The information is also often locked behind login walls.
That accounts can be created for free (for most people) does not mean that the information is freely accessible.
> That's not the representative experience for most consumers/users. Most people do have a phone number, though, so it's easy enough to bootstrap with.
It's a trap most don't realize they are falling in. It's easy to set up things without one time registration step (instead of making a user id and password, just download some client and boom - you are set). But think about it. One time(!) convenience is paid with constant(!) reduction of privacy.
Compare it to one time inconvenience of registration step, that gives you constantly better privacy. I'd say the second is the obvious choice.
And it's easy to sell this "convenience" for the clueless, but it's also evil to do so, because most don't realize what they are paying with. So I blame developers who are proliferating this approach. Unlike many of their users, they know very well what they are doing, and they exploit people's cluelessness and natural preference for convenience.
There's not logging in automatically, and then there's using other data they have about you (however limited) to still provide a good experience. The parent comment is clearly talking about the latter (creating experiences that are equally good for privacy minded and open book people) while you're focused on a small feature that isn't really relevant to the bigger picture.
The article starts with the words "Imagine you want to try the service offered by a site, but you have to log in to be able to do it." That's a problem statement, and the solution is clear: Let users try your service without forcing them to log in. That's it. It's that simple: Offer a demo. No third-party two-factor-authentication-by-people-who-don't-understand-what-two-factor-means stuff needed.
Once you have people hooked, they will gladly open an account if they intend to return.
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