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In other countries with ID numbers like this, I wonder how much of a difference is made by requiring that institutions be liable for fraud, rather than shielded

In other countries with ID numbers like this, I wonder how much of a difference is made by requiring that institutions be liable for fraud, rather than shielded from such fraud, forcing them to use more secure methods of verifying identity/possession by default. Example is chip+pin, which is widespread in Europe but not really available in the US. Chip+nothing (which is still better than a 16-digit number) is become more commonplace as the liability protections that the magnetic strip enjoyed are disappearing. People react in self-interest, and the fact that you become liable for fraud if you take the strip instead of the chip mean that there's a large incentive to move away from the magnetic strip. I'm sure if you dig into it you'd see similar provisions that protect other organizations, either throw law, regulation, or just protection of "industry standard practices", from being held directly liable if they use the SSN for identity verification rather than insisting on a more reliable hard-to-exfiltrate identifier.

bonzini 7y ago
The difference is that they require other information. The Italian tax ID number is just an encoded version of data that's already in the form (name, gender, date and place of birth), but the form also requires an ID or driving license number and I have to hand a copy physically with a matching number and picture.
- andrewla 7y ago
  Out of curiosity, who, specifically, is "they" -- is it the government for government services/taxes, or is it private companies for identifying you for taxation or employment eligibility purposes, or by private organizations (banks, credit cards) as an attestation of identity?
  - bonzini 7y ago
    I was mostly referring to banks, but it's also mostly true for government offices (tax offices, retirement agencies, voting stations, also the municipalities if you need some certificate etc.). Technically public officials can authenticate you without photo id, but it's most common to provide one especially outside small towns.

bonzini 7y ago

The difference is that they require other information. The Italian tax ID number is just an encoded version of data that's already in the form (name, gender, date and place of birth), but the form also requires an ID or driving license number and I have to hand a copy physically with a matching number and picture.

andrewla 7y ago
Out of curiosity, who, specifically, is "they" -- is it the government for government services/taxes, or is it private companies for identifying you for taxation or employment eligibility purposes, or by private organizations (banks, credit cards) as an attestation of identity?
- bonzini 7y ago
  I was mostly referring to banks, but it's also mostly true for government offices (tax offices, retirement agencies, voting stations, also the municipalities if you need some certificate etc.). Technically public officials can authenticate you without photo id, but it's most common to provide one especially outside small towns.