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Within Europe standing advice from national governments is to have a copy of your ID prepared in advance for hotels to hang on to, with certain details blacked

Within Europe standing advice from national governments is to have a copy of your ID prepared in advance for hotels to hang on to, with certain details blacked out (like the social security number if this is still present on the front of the passport) and the name of the hotel/camping/hostel/b&b written over it. The Dutch government even has an app that does this for you. Handing over your actual passport is not required, and the last I've heard the only places where these are actually demanded are pretty shady or just downright ignorant. I haven't had a problem handing over copies anywhere in Europe though. The hotels do need your ID's document number, and a copy suffices for this. Most only jot down the actual number and immediately hand back the copy. Rarely someone might ask to see the actual passport as proof that you have it, but I have never been requested to hand it over (and you shouldn't).

g_p 6y ago
Seems sensible. Interestingly, there's no persistent unique identifier on a UK passport (short of the personal details, which will be unique). But there's no SSN or equivalent on them, and no address. Passport number is a relatively infrequently used thing, on account of the fact it changes on any renewal or replacement. If you have two passports, they have two different numbers. Having a "non-ID" culture is a nice thing though - in the US, people need to show ID to board even a domestic flight. Having an app to help redact ID is a nice idea, but in my view is a fairly poor solution to a non-technical problem. If you didn't insist on having these places collect ID info, you wouldn't need the app. For proof of age, that's a good scenario where you likely do need ID (today), but in future should be able to use attribute-based authentication to pove this without disclosing anything.

g_p 6y ago

Seems sensible. Interestingly, there's no persistent unique identifier on a UK passport (short of the personal details, which will be unique). But there's no SSN or equivalent on them, and no address. Passport number is a relatively infrequently used thing, on account of the fact it changes on any renewal or replacement. If you have two passports, they have two different numbers. Having a "non-ID" culture is a nice thing though - in the US, people need to show ID to board even a domestic flight. Having an app to help redact ID is a nice idea, but in my view is a fairly poor solution to a non-technical problem. If you didn't insist on having these places collect ID info, you wouldn't need the app. For proof of age, that's a good scenario where you likely do need ID (today), but in future should be able to use attribute-based authentication to pove this without disclosing anything.