Comment by krick
18 days ago
Huh. Can you do that? I wonder what is legal status of this. I used to make all sorts of fake IDs (pretty good ones!) when I was a teen (you know, for purposes such as going to clubs, buying alcohol), but of course this is literally a crime, and not even a "minor" one. Apparently, back then it didn't bother me much, but with age I became more cowardly, I must admit. So now I use my passport data more often than not, even though I am not really a fan of the idea of giving a scan of your documents to some random guy on AirBnB (although, with some obvious caption photoshopped on top, to make the scan less re-usable). I mean, it's just a matter of fact that everyone requires them, and it also has that weird status of "semi-secret thing" that you are somehow aren't supposed to give to anyone, and I still have close to zero understanding of how that works.
So, I suppose you shouldn't give your fake id (digital or physical) to a government officials. It also seems "obvious" that it's similarly unwise to give it to a bank. But you can do that to a random guy on AirBnB? A hotel? To a delivery service (Uber/Wolt/whatever)? Dicsord? Where is the line between a bank (a private commercial corporation) and Discord (a private commercial corporation)?
>>But you can do that to a random guy on AirBnB? A hotel? To a delivery service (Uber/Wolt/whatever)?
The "legal" line is usually around fraud - trying to obtain some financial gain by providing false information. There is nothing to gain by giving a fake ID to discord - but it probably violates some rules around unathorized access to computer systems.
It's definitely fraud, the consideration is access to their service.
It's still fraud
It's likely against the ToS rather than illegal. But if they're deleting IDs correctly after verifying I guess you just have to get past 30 days
The mere possession of a fake ID is illegal on its face, using it is fraud.
But is a photoshopped image of an ID a fake id? Do you possess it? A photo of an id isn’t an id, it’s a photo. Ceci n'est pas une pipe
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At least where I'm from, the forgery or the possession of a forged ID is a criminal offense in itself, not matter the intent or whether it's actually used.
I'm not sure that photoshopping a dog in place of the portrait would qualify to though. It's immediately obvious that it is neither you nor a valid government issued document so doesn't that preclude it qualifying as forgery?
Yes, it is indeed not always clear what constitutes forgery (Germany).
> A document in the classic sense requires an embodied declaration of intent that identifies an issuer and is suitable for providing proof in legal transactions. In the case of a lawyer's letter, the signature is an essential part of the standard repertoire of authenticity.
https://www.heise.de/en/news/Document-fraud-via-email-Why-th...
So removing some parts to make it _could_ make it safe, to Not create a "risk of confusion":
> Even if computer processing creates the appearance of a genuine document, the typical characteristics of the original must be present to establish a serious risk of confusion. Likewise, the BayObLG did not consider the offense of forging evidential data according to Section 269 of the German Criminal Code (StGB) to be fulfilled.
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Good question, IANAL.
Obviously you can go further: What if you just draw up the whole thing with a pencil? What if it's an ID identifying you as a citizen of Nowhereistan? Where does freedom of artistic expression end and a forgery start?
Again, IANAL, but I suppose it would qualify at least as fraud once you try to use even an obvious fake as "proof of identity" in place of a requested government issued document. In that case, there's an intent to deceive that's hard to deny, even if it's just about age verification for access to a digital platform.
I could imagine in court it might come down to details, like whether it's sufficiently similar to a real ID at a glance, or whether tamper-proof marks of an official ID were copied as well.
In any case I wouldn't want to risk up to a year of jail time over a joke.