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For context: UK businesses are more serious about requiring an official address than the US. In the US, you can just fill in any plausible address. Your parent'

by tlb 4y ago

For context: UK businesses are more serious about requiring an official address than the US. In the US, you can just fill in any plausible address. Your parent's house or a friend's house is fine. It used to be important to be able to get mail sent there, but not really any more since you can get everything by email. In the UK, you frequently have to provide a current tax or utility bill with your name and the address you're claiming, to show that you're the official owner / renter of that address. It's a considerable hassle when moving there.

Nextgrid 4y ago
> In the UK, you frequently have to provide a current tax or utility bill with your name and the address you're claiming, to show that you're the official owner / renter of that address. This doesn't do anything to prevent fraud though - utility bills are trivial to forge and can't be validated in any way, though a lot of companies that don't deliver a physical product (wireless telecoms/internet) don't actually care about your address so bad guys can also obtain a "legitimate" fraudulent utility bill by opening a SIM-only contract in a phone shop with any address they desire. > It's a considerable hassle when moving there. Back when I was living in shared accommodation I had no utility bills in my name (everything was included in the rent) and I've had no issues with using a niche VoIP provider's invoices as proof of address - their invoices look like any other utility bill but obviously since it's VoIP it's not actually tied to an address and yet was accepted everywhere, proving once more the uselessness of this entire "proof of address" charade.
- tlb 4y ago
  Yes, like many things it's a hassle for the rule-abiding without being much of an obstacle for fraudsters.
323 4y ago
In UK a government letter addressed to you is accepted as proof of address. Like the NINo paper (SSN equivalent). And UK gov doesn't require ownership proof on the address you provide to them.
mdavis6890 4y ago
I find it strange that we are okay with business requiring our physical address. Maybe with some rare exceptions, I can't think of a good reason why these businesses need to know where we live. Even banks. Usually the reason given is security, anti money-laundering, anti-terrorism or whatever. But I think the real reason is government control and surveillance. We should not be okay with this.

by tlb 4y ago

Nextgrid 4y ago

> In the UK, you frequently have to provide a current tax or utility bill with your name and the address you're claiming, to show that you're the official owner / renter of that address. This doesn't do anything to prevent fraud though - utility bills are trivial to forge and can't be validated in any way, though a lot of companies that don't deliver a physical product (wireless telecoms/internet) don't actually care about your address so bad guys can also obtain a "legitimate" fraudulent utility bill by opening a SIM-only contract in a phone shop with any address they desire. > It's a considerable hassle when moving there. Back when I was living in shared accommodation I had no utility bills in my name (everything was included in the rent) and I've had no issues with using a niche VoIP provider's invoices as proof of address - their invoices look like any other utility bill but obviously since it's VoIP it's not actually tied to an address and yet was accepted everywhere, proving once more the uselessness of this entire "proof of address" charade.

tlb 4y ago
Yes, like many things it's a hassle for the rule-abiding without being much of an obstacle for fraudsters.

323 4y ago

In UK a government letter addressed to you is accepted as proof of address. Like the NINo paper (SSN equivalent). And UK gov doesn't require ownership proof on the address you provide to them.

mdavis6890 4y ago

I find it strange that we are okay with business requiring our physical address. Maybe with some rare exceptions, I can't think of a good reason why these businesses need to know where we live. Even banks. Usually the reason given is security, anti money-laundering, anti-terrorism or whatever. But I think the real reason is government control and surveillance. We should not be okay with this.