I think the OP has a point. There might very well be a problem, and no matter how we end up solving it, we should have some solution ready.
There are no problems with lost coins. And there will be no problems with it.
IT IS THEFT. PERIOD. Confiscation of property without due process is theft. I don't care if it is 1 year or 10,000 years.
Not if the currency is designed to work that way
This currency is designed to work fine even if 90-99% of coins are lost.
If someone wants to make a deterministic wallet based on a passphrase and then say gets sent to prison for 30 years you believe you have a right to his/her property just because they didn't use those funds in last decade.
Prisoners don't have access to computers?
Looks like you are living in a very strange country :)
Average prisoner don't have even a phone, decent food or good healthcare.
You are free to stay on the old chain with everybody else who thinks the new rules are bad.
Yes, I hope this change will never win the "voting" :)
No more than the government reclaiming a plot of land from somebody who's been missing for the last 100 years.
In many parts of the world leaving "lost" land as is may me bad, but no one will be hurt by "lost" bitcoins.