Live data from Hacker News

The cruel Catch-22 of being poor with no ID

washingtonpost.com

1–10 of 90 posts

Re: The cruel Catch-22 of being poor with no ID

#2
Got to keep those poor people away from the polls.

It's interesting how the government here - NL - makes it mandatory for those over 14 to have a photo ID of sorts at all times and charges money for those. A government issued ID should be free of charge, especially if it is required by the government to have one, and they set the prices.

That's still a lot better than the situation described in the article which seems to be engineered to simply keep people in the hole once they through misfortune or carelessness slip up. It's sad too that it should come to volunteers to correct such situations, you'd think that the government would really like its citizens to be able to take part in society rather than to be pushed even further into the fringes.

Re: The cruel Catch-22 of being poor with no ID

#3
So she didn't have any opportunity over the forty years prior to secure any of those documents?

Having to deal with something like this at the same time as being evicted and losing your mother is very sad, but that's not an excuse. It's a human interest story.

Re: The cruel Catch-22 of being poor with no ID

#4
post #2

Got to keep those poor people away from the polls. It's interesting how the government here - NL - makes it mandatory for those over 14 to have a photo ID of sorts at all times and charges money for those. A government issued ID should be free of charge, especially if it is required by the government to have one, and they set the prices. That's still a lot better than the situation described in the article which seem…

Like the John Oliver episode where they found a DMV that was only open on the fifth Wednesday of the month, those months that have a fifth Wednesday. Super easy to get an id.

Re: The cruel Catch-22 of being poor with no ID

#5
post #2

Got to keep those poor people away from the polls. It's interesting how the government here - NL - makes it mandatory for those over 14 to have a photo ID of sorts at all times and charges money for those. A government issued ID should be free of charge, especially if it is required by the government to have one, and they set the prices. That's still a lot better than the situation described in the article which seem…

Malice seems unlikely. There has to be some way to prove your identity, and people have tried to impersonate others.

Is there a way to offer that kind of system while avoiding the concerns about identity theft?

EDIT: After thinking it over, I guess identity theft isn't a big concern. It seems pretty unlikely that someone would actively exploit this system to get someone's ID, then their birth certificate, then somehow get a loan in their name, or something along those lines. I hope someone with more experience can chime in either way.

Re: The cruel Catch-22 of being poor with no ID

#6
post #3

So she didn't have any opportunity over the forty years prior to secure any of those documents? Having to deal with something like this at the same time as being evicted and losing your mother is very sad, but that's not an excuse. It's a human interest story.

Mate ID's expire every 6 years. Expired ID's are not valid ID's.

Re: The cruel Catch-22 of being poor with no ID

#7
post #3

So she didn't have any opportunity over the forty years prior to secure any of those documents? Having to deal with something like this at the same time as being evicted and losing your mother is very sad, but that's not an excuse. It's a human interest story.

Her Social Security card and birth certificate were among the things lost that day.

What reasons are there for the system to be structured such that obtaining an ID is difficult?

Re: The cruel Catch-22 of being poor with no ID

#8
post #3

So she didn't have any opportunity over the forty years prior to secure any of those documents? Having to deal with something like this at the same time as being evicted and losing your mother is very sad, but that's not an excuse. It's a human interest story.

http://whathelpsthehomeless.blogspot.com/2017/06/documentati...

Re: The cruel Catch-22 of being poor with no ID

#9
post #2

Got to keep those poor people away from the polls. It's interesting how the government here - NL - makes it mandatory for those over 14 to have a photo ID of sorts at all times and charges money for those. A government issued ID should be free of charge, especially if it is required by the government to have one, and they set the prices. That's still a lot better than the situation described in the article which seem…

>"engineered to simply keep people in the hole once they through misfortune or carelessness slip up"

This seems like a pretty extraordinary claim made pretty casually.

What would motivate someone to intentionally prevent poor people from helping themselves?

It seems much more likely a case of straightforward government dysfunction enabled by all the usual factors that make the government suck at accomplishing things.

If the government ID infrastructure ran as well as Facebook's ad targeting department, we would have no problems of this kind whatsoever.

Re: The cruel Catch-22 of being poor with no ID

#10
post #2

Got to keep those poor people away from the polls. It's interesting how the government here - NL - makes it mandatory for those over 14 to have a photo ID of sorts at all times and charges money for those. A government issued ID should be free of charge, especially if it is required by the government to have one, and they set the prices. That's still a lot better than the situation described in the article which seem…

Malice seems unlikely. There has to be some way to prove your identity, and people have tried to impersonate others. Is there a way to offer that kind of system while avoiding the concerns about identity theft? EDIT: After thinking it over, I guess identity theft isn't a big concern. It seems pretty unlikely that someone would actively exploit this system to get someone's ID, then their birth certificate, then someho…

How unlikely does it seem to you?

A case was just before the Supreme Court:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/15/us/politics/voter-id-laws...

Post reply on HN