Woah, hold on.
> sort of like two-factor authentication without the two-factor?
If you don't have 2-factor, which most sites don't, then it is 1-factor. This is replacing that 1-factor with another 1-factor.
> So how do I login to my email account for example if I need to login first to my email and get the temporary password? It's a chicken and egg problem.
You are taking him too literally. While he did say it could replace passwords, he obviously didn't mean email auth. Email auth would probably still require a password. Since many have their email password saved, they may not usually have to enter that anyway, most of the time.
> Somewhat flawed idea in theory, even more horrible in practice. I hope this doesn't become a real thing. I will refuse to use any site that implements this flawed passwordless solution.
You've not presented any valid argument against it. Why is it flawed? If it is horrible in practice then why do many companies use SMS as secondary auth (for the "2" in 2-factor)?
> sort of like two-factor authentication without the two-factor?
If you don't have 2-factor, which most sites don't, then it is 1-factor. This is replacing that 1-factor with another 1-factor.
> So how do I login to my email account for example if I need to login first to my email and get the temporary password? It's a chicken and egg problem.
You are taking him too literally. While he did say it could replace passwords, he obviously didn't mean email auth. Email auth would probably still require a password. Since many have their email password saved, they may not usually have to enter that anyway, most of the time.
> Somewhat flawed idea in theory, even more horrible in practice. I hope this doesn't become a real thing. I will refuse to use any site that implements this flawed passwordless solution.
You've not presented any valid argument against it. Why is it flawed? If it is horrible in practice then why do many companies use SMS as secondary auth (for the "2" in 2-factor)?