FBI Probes Service Selling 153M+ Drivers Licenses • Hacker News Board

Re: FBI Probes Service Selling 153M+ Drivers Licenses

#311

Post by embedding-shape » Sat, Sep 05, 2026, 9:53 AM UTC

dghlsakjg wrote: post #265

embedding-shape wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't all of those cases then also proof that if the SSN was a government ID instead, all of those things would have been the same? The ID wouldn't "impossible to make transactions and survive", just an impediment, just like not having a SSN is today. Point is, the US already basically have a de facto "ID card", they just don't call it as such (yet?), so claiming somehow correctly labeling this thing would make thing…

You can't really identify someone by their SSN. My card is literally just a piece of cardstock paper with a name and number, and no one has ever asked to see it. There is no photo. There is no security.

Say you go to your local bank today and ask to sign up for a new bank account, what sort of documents do they ask for? Passport? Drivers license?

Re: FBI Probes Service Selling 153M+ Drivers Licenses

#312

Post by tgsovlerkhgsel » Sat, Sep 05, 2026, 2:35 PM UTC

autoexec wrote: post #239

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #39

If there was some kind of fixed minimum compensation - even a single dollar per affected person - and strict liability (doesn't matter how you allegedly did everything to protect the data, if it leaked it's on you), companies would suddenly be very motivated to a) secure b) minimize the data they hold. Without penalties, e.g. Hertz has little reason not to keep 10+ years of drivers licenses just in case they come in…

Some companies have so much money that there's no fine which would ever be punitive enough to matter to them. I'd bet jail time for executives could be extremely effective though.

The fine doesn't have to be higher than the company's profit to matter. If it's bigger than the profit from keeping the data and significant enough to warrant allocating resources to care about it (tens of millions might be enough here), they'll have a small team work on data minimization not because it's the right thing to do, but because it's the cheap thing to do.

Re: FBI Probes Service Selling 153M+ Drivers Licenses

#313

Post by dghlsakjg » Sat, Sep 05, 2026, 7:57 PM UTC

embedding-shape wrote: post #311

dghlsakjg wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't really identify someone by their SSN. My card is literally just a piece of cardstock paper with a name and number, and no one has ever asked to see it. There is no photo. There is no security.

Say you go to your local bank today and ask to sign up for a new bank account, what sort of documents do they ask for? Passport? Drivers license?

Government issued id with a photo is typically the requirement depending on the bank and their KYC.

That can be a military id, passport, NEXUS card, DL, state ID.