Comment by HlessClaudesman
2 days ago
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 handling their customers data more like radioactive waste.
The only times I had to provide a scan of my passport was to cross a 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).
I sold a house recently, my lawyer/solicitor who’s physically known me for 6+ years had to scan my passport & licence to “verify” me according to new AML laws.
KYC & AML is poison.
Edit: to be clear, this lawyer also represented me when I bought said property.
In my experience, hotels in other countries also take a copy of the passports of all guests.
Also learned “know your customer” laws require US people to give passport + SSN to a foreign bank who then reports it back to the US. Given that such bank’s website involves disabling right-click for “security”, the only glimmer of hope is that the data is catastrophically lost due to stupidity before it can be compromised.