this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2025
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I can criticize the modern web for a lot of things, but as long as we have situations where we want to check whether an account is a real person, as opposed to FarmingBot #295038, they need something. I'm not a fan of phone verification, but I'd only criticize it when we have alternatives.
I'd even be in favor of some kind of one-way algorithm by which a trusted real-person-identifying entity could tell a random third party site: Yes, this is a genuine human.
https://www.oesterreich.gv.at/en/id-austria.html
That exists and is better than a phone number.
Cool, now provide solutions that exist today for every other country
That is not my responsibility ;) I just shared that something like that exists.
The technology has existed since the 80s.
X509 certificates would allow a government agency to sign a digital identity indicating that it's legitimate, would allow for remote revocation in the event of loss or theft, and can be easily integrated with every existing computer and browser.
An issued physical card would resemble a credit card, with a chip in it. Other physical form factors can take the shape of USB-devices which bundle the card and the reader into a single device.
In the real world:
https://www.oesterreich.gv.at/en/id-austria.html
Also https://www.cac.mil/Common-Access-Card/, if the Americans are skeptical.
I don't like the Austrian one being phone-integrated, but I understand why people would want that.
It's because the phone is a two-factor token that everyone has with them. With a secure processor being the hardware token and fingerprints or face scans biometrics. This makes it ideal for saving such sensitive data. I most frequently use it to digitally sign documents in a legally enforceable way.
The card you linked is similar, and a smart card was one of the previous versions of our system. The goal here was to make it universally accessible, and a smartphone is perfect for that.