[WalterBright]

You could make passwords too long to remember. Write them down and put them in a safety deposit box.

[atmavatar]

That's when the bad guys grab one or more loved ones and threaten to do bad things to them until you retrieve the passwords.

[WalterBright]

True, but that makes for a much riskier proposition for the bad guys. The whole point of these bitcoin grabs is minimal risk.

The risk would be about the same as for any ransom scheme.