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Playing devil's advocate: Where is the problem? Or, what does a passport or id card contain, which should be kept secret? Your name? They have that anyway? A
by CaptainZapp 9y ago
Playing devil's advocate:
Where is the problem? Or, what does a passport or id card contain, which should be kept secret?
Your name? They have that anyway?
A passport number? What could be done with it, except verifying that the passport is legit and not stolen?
My height? Who cares?
While I really think there's much too much shenanigans, which can be done with an (US) social security number and personal information I just don't see the same issue with identification.
I'm happy, of course, to be educated otherwise.
Disclaimer: i did upload a foto of my passport in ordet to rent an AirBnb in Sapporo.
- pjc50 9y agoWell, given an image of an ID uploaded to service A you could obviously use it as credentials to service B; someone else could reupload your ID in order to rent from AirBNB as you.
- CaptainZapp 9y agoThanks & fair enough. I really prefer a legitimate answer, like yours, as opposed to be voted down for posting a legitimate question.
- zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 9y agoEither sending someone a picture of a passport is accepted as proof that you are the owner of the depicted passport, or having a picture of a passport is worthless. Choose one, and then explain why sending a picture of a passport to airbnb makes sense and security on their part doesn't matter.
- andyhmltn 9y ago>"Or, what does a passport or id card contain, which should be kept secret?" Well for one the passport as a whole can then be used to commit identity fraud or cloned on the black market.
- easytiger 9y agoCombined with some othe rpersonal info it can get you registered for the UK online tax portal etc
- Spooky23 9y agoThe use of passport is an example of an attempt to do identity proofing. In the practice of identity management there's a concept of "Identity Assurance Levels" where you have varying levels of validation of a person's identity. If you are interested in this, check out NIST Special Publication 800-63A. AirBNB is trying to use the passport photo as a way to link you to a real-world identity, cheaply. They are in a sticky situation because their bonkers business model will suffer if customers need to go through intrusive processes. Simultaneously, they need to do something to avoid being held negligent when a fake AirBNB host/guest hurts someone. The problem is that it doesn't really provide assurance of anything other than possession of an image of a passport. The problem is that it's spewing alot of information that if handled improperly is a high risk for fraudulent use. For example, knowing your citizenship, date, and place of birth makes it trivial to fraudulently obtain your birth certificate. That makes it pretty trivial to do something like obtain a fraudulent driver's license. There are many ways to do this more effectively and at much lower risk to the customer. For example, you could verify ownership of a bank account with trivial deposits. Or you could mail the customer a token. Or require a notarized document. Or some combination. But the risk to AirBnb of a negative outcome is low, so they push a risk that you may not understand to you.
- CaptainZapp 9y agoI just stumbled over your reply right now (a $ short, a day late) and, well: Thank you very much. That was instructive, insightful and taught me a lot; namely what the actual problem is. Sheesh! Sometimes it's really worthwhile to be a bit prissy, but seriously, I learned something from your reply and I really appreciate it.