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Comment by mrits | Hacker News Reader

For the people that can't prove they were born, how does a new ID card make it worse? It seems like it would make it better since the new system wouldn't be tied to birth ancient birth certificates or SS #s

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In order to rollout a whole new ID system you'd need so way to validate the identity of the recipient before you gave them a new one. Presumably the easiest way would be just to turn in your old ID card, which many people don't have, per the previous comment.

It's a gradient. People with existing identity docs are frictionless, state IDs, driver's licenses, passports. Heck, ID.me and Stripe Identity can proof these folks remotely. People without those docs still have birth certificates and other legacy identity docs. You use trust anchors and identity to proof them into new identity systems. The latter requires a solid and robust ground game, similar to USPS or the US census, to ensure extremely high rates of coverage to prevent disenfranchisement or a digital divide.

(a component of my work is digital identity/IAM)

So how do you prove your identity now, when you need eg. a drivers licence?

It doesn't make it worse when you just issue IDs, but it would make it worse if you required them before they were virtually universal.

Today the coverage of state IDs is actually very poor. People who hold them believe they are universally held but in truth only 89% of adult Americans possess one. That is not high, it is terrible.

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