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They want a signature on paper in case you're not you.

Yeah, sounds like either you're the person in question, in which case the paperwork means nothing, or you're not the person in question, in which case you've defrauded the office and they can point to that (and how they were deceived) if the real person asks why their info was released.

It also sounds like what happened at my (australian) high school. On a state exam one of my classmates had his older brother sit the exam for him.

Now the coversheet for the exam has a place to write your name and sign it which you must do before starting the test.

The older brother signed it as his younger brother. Then was charged with forgery. The requirement to sign was there to make that kind of cheating a crime.

Germany has the same approach with the forms you fill out on Hotel check in. They are on paper on purpose and have to be achieved for a year in case the police wants them to identify people. You of course could do that digitally, but then you wouldnt leave your fingerprints and DNA.

German source https://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article191846877/Hotelanmeldu...

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