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Ask HN: Would you provide your ID(s) while registering with a website/app?

1 points by siddharthgdas ↗ HN
If a social network, any web service or an mobile app asks you to upload a photo(copy) of any of your valid ID, how willing would you be to do it? Please explain why.

IDs - National, College, Driving license etc.

(Excuse my English, if incorrect)

7 comments

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imaginenore
No.

If anything, I'd want the opposite - an anonymous social network.

Things like requiring ID only lead to harassment and suppression of free speech. There are so many examples of Trump supporters losing their jobs because of their political beliefs, it's not funny.

dozzie
You do realize that in some countries this is an illegal activity? That random private company is not allowed to collect and store government-issued IDs?
siddharthgdas
Okay, I didn't know that. Would it be illegal just to verify an user too?
tabeth
I personally wouldn't provide it. However I use Google and Facebook (messenger) so I'm probably just a hypocrite (you provide them far more information then your ID alone would give, e.g. income proxies, education, code, interests, multiplied by friends and connections).
yoo1I
First off, as pointed out below, making copies of national IDs is illegal in some jurisdictions, but there are many other IDs which according to the issuers may not be copied. Think drivers licenses, library cards, and so on.

That being said, all IDs that I own are issued for a particular service, any app/webservice asking me to upload a copy of them, would most likely re-use some aspect of value that these IDs provide for a different purpose, and I can't think of an actual, compelling reason why I would give someone else access to it.

And that's before even thinking about security and the possibility of a breach.

Would you mind sharing why you are asking ?

siddharthgdas
Sure, I am building an app so I wanted to know how willing would people be. The idea is to only verify the registered users against the ID and not store them for later use.