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A major convenience in Sweden is using Mobile Bank ID for everything, which authenticates you using your smartphone. File your taxes? Start a company? Check you

A major convenience in Sweden is using Mobile Bank ID for everything, which authenticates you using your smartphone. File your taxes? Start a company? Check your pension? Log in to your bank/transfer money? More and more private companies are integrating with it to a point where we don't really need accounts or passwords for anything involving your real identity. I don't see why it couldn't be used to buy alcohol or prove that you have a driver's license too, it's just a matter of time. It started as a PC thing in 2003, but turned mobile in 2011. Now penetration is 94% of smartphone users, which is pretty much everybody. Scary? Yes. Convenient? Very.

cinntaile 6y ago
Sweden is quite absurd in that regard. You can rent a car by simply scanning your driver's license, but buying an energy drink or light beer by scanning your ID? No that'd be irresponsible, an actual person has to do the verification.
Tijdreiziger 6y ago
We have a similar system in the Netherlands named DigiD. I prefer this system over the Swedish one as it's run by a government agency (rather than any bank) and it's only accessible to governmental or semi-governmental (e.g. pension, healthcare) agencies.
rags2riches 6y ago
I have resisted getting a Mobile Bank ID for years now. A Bank ID just seems too powerful to keep as a soft cert on my cheap cell phone full of apps doing god knows what. Having it on a smartcard I can store safely just feels more appropriate. But Mobile Bank ID is becoming so common it will pretty much be required to have one. Some services integrating with Bank ID only bother to implement the Mobile part for example (and it's not much extra effort to support all kinds). A credit card suddenly changed from doing a SMS code verification to doing it via Bank ID (which I of course discovered in a situation where I did not have my smartcard accessible). Sometimes a small business or event will only accept mobile payment and the Swish payment system is of course built on Mobile Bank ID. I expect I will be getting a Mobile Bank ID soon.

cinntaile 6y ago

Sweden is quite absurd in that regard. You can rent a car by simply scanning your driver's license, but buying an energy drink or light beer by scanning your ID? No that'd be irresponsible, an actual person has to do the verification.

Tijdreiziger 6y ago

We have a similar system in the Netherlands named DigiD. I prefer this system over the Swedish one as it's run by a government agency (rather than any bank) and it's only accessible to governmental or semi-governmental (e.g. pension, healthcare) agencies.

rags2riches 6y ago

I have resisted getting a Mobile Bank ID for years now. A Bank ID just seems too powerful to keep as a soft cert on my cheap cell phone full of apps doing god knows what. Having it on a smartcard I can store safely just feels more appropriate. But Mobile Bank ID is becoming so common it will pretty much be required to have one. Some services integrating with Bank ID only bother to implement the Mobile part for example (and it's not much extra effort to support all kinds). A credit card suddenly changed from doing a SMS code verification to doing it via Bank ID (which I of course discovered in a situation where I did not have my smartcard accessible). Sometimes a small business or event will only accept mobile payment and the Swish payment system is of course built on Mobile Bank ID. I expect I will be getting a Mobile Bank ID soon.