Wow that seems like a pretty weird limitation. Wouldn't you be able to use the same password on a different device?
This doesn't work with multiple devices, since they'll be two different logs. However, there is ongoing work to support multiple identities. One identity could broadcast that another identity is a "sameAs" - causing friendly peers to sync with the other identity as well.
Personally, I haven't found this to be a problem. I find separate identities less distracting. (My favorite reason to use SSB is that continuous syncing is not an expectation.)
A luxury not shared by marginalized persons, such as closeted gay or trans folks, political dissidents in repressive countries, or conservatives in Silicon Valley
Their plan is to support this at a client level: you create multiple identities with metadata indicating that all are the same person on different devices, which clients can then use to group them appropriately in whatever way makes sense.
UX wise, it may make sense for some clients to obscure this architecture from new users somewhat and treat them visually as the same identity, but that's down the line (and I'm sure some purist clients will never want to do this).
Skip to 11:45 into the video, the algorithm/cryptography for it isn't that hard either: https://www.decentralizedweb.net/videos/talk-better-algorith... you could do it in SSB without needing gun!
But now you just kick the can back. You still have to have an account that manages the device keys, and you certainly don't want that locked down to a device - unless that device is the user's brain.
So either way, you're still gonna have to use a system to manage it that looks 110% like the MIT Open Source security/cryptography code anybody can rip from us.
They need to mutually confirm it. If keyA says sameAs keyB, and keyB says sameAs keyA, then they should be considered merged.
only capabilities
accept this, find peace
If you guys do this, you'll shoot your user adoption in the foot.
Do you really think XYZ millions of users moving from FB in the next decade, when they come to SSB or NAB, are going to choose the one that is intentionally more complicated/confusing/harder-to-use?
Get passwords working in cryptographically secure ways and the world will be at more peace.
i don't care about millions of people. mass adoption is fine, but i don't care about the people who already have internet, smartphones, and need convincing to drop their shitty spyware android device. i care about the billions of people who are coming online in the next 5-10 years. i'm developing[0] a stack that integrates hardware, software, and p2p/mesh protocols to compete directly with telcos and OEMs.
when you include hardware security, the user experience of per-device keys is much nicer. you need a passcode that is used to protect your device-entangled key and that's it. new devices pair like bluetooth, securely handshake, and publish `sameAs` depending on the type of device. users don't need to worry about anything beyond the device passcode. projects like dark crystal[1] make it easy to generate and distribute an emergency key that can be used to restore access to your devices if you forget your code.