The private keys CAN be brute forced, in the future it will be economical to do so in some cases. Who would you rather give an insecure private key to, a miner or a crook?
Neither. If there is a compelling reason, everyone will move funds to newer secure addresses. https://allkeys.cash
Even if they're dead? Keys can be mined with computing power, miners run data-centers, it makes sense that miners will claim old keys since anyone can do it.
No kidding. I'm not talking about current tech. How long will the 160 bits hold? not forever, and we'll have to upgrade. If someone doesn't upgrade what do you do?
The 160 bit hash is just an extra layer to protect against a potential flaw in secp256k1. When you transact, you reveal the public key anyway (that's why we have change addresses).
It doesn't matter what 'should' be done. There is money up for grabs, it's nuts to think people will just leave it there. Given that people WILL try to claim it, how should that go?
I never suggested otherwise. This is the part where you now try to continue justifying theft of funds "because someone will eventually steal it anyway." 🙄
It's not theft if you allow the owners to come forward and claim them. In fact, the miners are the best people to run such a system. They have the integrity of the currency in mind.