What is this in reference to?

(not OP but…)

The Doctor's advice I don't get the reference¹, but for deprecating a device this could be a concern if your phone or similar device suddenly stops working² and that is required to prove who you are.

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[1] perhaps searching for some officially, erm, unsupported medication resulting in getting blocked by a service that list closely enough linked to an identity provider that the ID account is locked also? — seems a stretch

[2] or is lost/stolen – a potential problem with any physical security token or virtual token if you only have it associated with a single device

examples are numerous. There was this father who sent the doctor photos of a medical problem of his child and the trustee of the digital identity locked his account. With all his digital life, payment channels, communication, you name it. Even the police asking the trustee to unlock was of no avail. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/21/technology/google-surveil...

Or there is this munich company whose employee visited it's parents and immediately the company github account got locked. Parents happened to live in Iran.

The tip of the iceberg, however.

The doctor's advice is probably the father who got booted out of the entire Google system because he sent the pediatrician a photo of his son that the AI classified as CSAM, and Google refused to reinstate access to his data despite a ton of media outrage.

Though that is a problem, I'm trying to understand the point still. Is this being brought up because Google is a registrar?

Presumably because Google offers social identity auth now (which could be revoked arbitrarily).

exactly

And, not disagreeing, but a moot point as well.

It’s not like ICANN is guaranteed to not kick you out for “hosting illegal child pornography and advocating organized violence”. It will happen once enough individuals starts relying on DNS.

ICANN isn't in control over DNS because thats some platform they own but because they are a public institution and managing DNS is their mandate. Consequently, they don't get to nuke your domain and then tell you to pound sand.

ICANN also cannot boot your domain directly - they only control the root zone and delegate responsibilities. Maybe for gTLDs they have some say but if you get a ccTLD then the only one who can kick you off is the corresponding country - and if it is your country then that greatly improves your chances of pursuing legal action if your domain is taken away without due process.

I hope a judge will have a say.