Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think people are against it, we already have the social security identifiers as a government layer... it's just that no one in the government is willing to do it for free in a way that is accessible to everyone
I think this is the horse shoe theory where the far left and right are against it. https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-conservative-and-li... I know people who don't have a social security number because their parents didn't want them to be tracked by the system.
Hackers had a live feed of every ID verification company scanned for over a year
241–250 of 264 posts
Re: Hackers had a live feed of every ID verification company scanned for over a year
#242Earlier quoted context omitted.
or just not ask for it at all. The three times I've needed to provide a scan of my passport were: to enroll in a university course, to buy from an e-commerce site, and to become an app developer. None of those orgs really needed a scan of my passport, which can't be revoked like a cracked password, and will now sit unencrypted somewhere until the end of time or until they are hacked and subsequently shamed into handl…
The only times I had to provide a scan of my passport was to cross a border: - get a VISA to be allowed to cross the border - send to the airline for my flight that will cross the border - show the real passport at the border I have another ID for authentication inside my country, which by the way, is not a driving license (which is used only for car driving usage).
KYC & AML is poison.
Edit: to be clear, this lawyer also represented me when I bought said property.
Re: Hackers had a live feed of every ID verification company scanned for over a year
#243Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the point is that if I have to use some system to tell the government "this is me", that's pretty much equivalent to the ID. It doesn't matter that they have the info already, it's that I now need to send them it in order to use the internet to like, file my taxes or send a message to my doctor or pay my electricity bill or any number of mundane things that aren't particularly worth the extra attack vector to…
I think you're conflating a few things here. With ZKP, you specifically don't have to do that. That's precisely what the Zero Knowledge in Zero Knowledge Proof means. Those are good for stuff like age checks. But for the other stuff, of course you need to tell the government who you are??? How else are you gonna pay your taxes? Just send them some money anonymously and hope that settles it? Of course they need to kno…
The fact that the things that require me to identify myself for functional reasons already do is exactly why it's ridiculous to propose that I do it in order to use the internet at all.
Something having downsides but being worthwhile for certain purposes doesn't mean that it's reasonable to require it in all circumstances. Pumping your body with radiation is not something you want to do in most circumstances, but it's worthwhile sometimes as a way to try to kill cancer cells before they kill you. Transmitting information that can be used to impersonate you is useful if you want to pay taxes, but that's no reason to think that it would be better to do literally every time you open a browser.
Re: Hackers had a live feed of every ID verification company scanned for over a year
#244Earlier quoted context omitted.
I live in the UK and was having this exact discussion with someone recently - I'd actually prefer Apple to be the owners of my digital identity over the UK government who would happily throw you in jail for expressing support for Palestine Action.
Your digital identity would then be under the jurisdiction of the US government, who (despite talking a big game) are arguably worse for that same sort of behaviour. If anyone has to have this type of control, better it be a local national government that you can in at least some small way influence.
Re: Hackers had a live feed of every ID verification company scanned for over a year
#245Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I don't know why HN rails against it [ZKP for age verification] constantly Because on its own as often presented, it still has the glaring shortcoming that anybody can proxy an ID verification for anybody else without any form of accountability for having done so. Which means that the only way for it to actually be secure is for the implementation to also required locked down computing devices. Hence why the EU sch…
> Because on its own as often presented, it still has the glaring shortcoming that anybody can proxy an ID verification for anybody else without any form of accountability for having done so. As do physical IDs, as somebody who's bought his younger brother beers growing up.
Proxying the credential means something like letting your brother use your ID. But note there are still avenues of accountability here - for your brother if he would have gotten caught, and possibly for you for loaning him your ID.
These dynamics don't translate to Internet scale, where all it takes is literally one person to go "I disagree with this age check scheme on principle, and I will proxy my credential to anyone who asks".
At any rate, you had started off saying you didn't understand why there was criticism and now you know why, regardless of whether you accept that criticism.
Re: Hackers had a live feed of every ID verification company scanned for over a year
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not quite sure what immigration has to do with a national ID system in the US. Seems like you just wanted to bring that up to be able to say "man that'd be so much easier if you got rid of all the immigrants" which it would have no impact either way on this particular issue Also on the rotating schedule thing, driver's licenses expire in the US, usually on a 5-10 year cadence. Replacing the physical cards was not…
> I'm not quite sure what immigration has to do with a national ID system in the US. It was explained right there in the comment. Illegal immigrants are often able to get services because the ID system is such a patchwork that they can manage to slip through the cracks. And attempting to implement any sort of widespread centralized ID is going to be met with resistance not just from people such as myself but also fro…
Re: Hackers had a live feed of every ID verification company scanned for over a year
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I'm not quite sure what immigration has to do with a national ID system in the US. It was explained right there in the comment. Illegal immigrants are often able to get services because the ID system is such a patchwork that they can manage to slip through the cracks. And attempting to implement any sort of widespread centralized ID is going to be met with resistance not just from people such as myself but also fro…
You do not need to be a documented US resident to get a driver's license, it is surprising anyone would expect that. Immigration is federal — the state only wants to know if you know how to drive. The state cares very little about your immigration status for almost all things.
Re: Hackers had a live feed of every ID verification company scanned for over a year
#248Earlier quoted context omitted.
I feel like that should require an in-person visit, as troublesome as that might be. A picture of an ID is not the same thing as presenting the actual ID
I think Pope Leo would respectfully disagree. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/05/us/pope-leo-xiv-bank-cust...
Re: Hackers had a live feed of every ID verification company scanned for over a year
#249Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not quite sure what immigration has to do with a national ID system in the US. Seems like you just wanted to bring that up to be able to say "man that'd be so much easier if you got rid of all the immigrants" which it would have no impact either way on this particular issue Also on the rotating schedule thing, driver's licenses expire in the US, usually on a 5-10 year cadence. Replacing the physical cards was not…
isn't the immigrant question a real obstacle for political change towards fixing this problem? That we would have to come to some kind of consensus on what to do for illegal immigrants
Re: Hackers had a live feed of every ID verification company scanned for over a year
#250Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think this is the horse shoe theory where the far left and right are against it. https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-conservative-and-li... I know people who don't have a social security number because their parents didn't want them to be tracked by the system.
Do they live in the woods? How do they work and pay taxes?
When the guy was trying to get a passport, he asked if anyone could show a picture of him from our high school yearbook.