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Comment by amelius | Hacker News Reader

Shouldn't you be able to walk into a phone store, get a new one and automatically sync all your files, passwords, etc., then pay for the phone using that data?

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Now you've got two vectors to get all the important data that lives on my phone: steal my phone, or convince a retail associate that you're me

You're assuming the worst possible implementation of that idea.

Well, I don't think I am. I think the easier it is for me to get a clone of my phone, the easier it is for someone else to get it. If at&t makes it really hard to get a clone, okay, but that makes the offering less useful. A seven day waiting period might make fraud less lucrative, but it also means I'm without a phone for a week, so what's the point

At least once we reach the point where we use passkeys everywhere - which as far as I understand is the safest authentication method? Then a new phone will not have the trusted keys since they are stored in the hardware of the stolen phone.

Well, you need the phone to prove who you are. Out of luck…

In what country is ID stored on the phone? Do people not carry licenses or IDs physically?

If my own anecdotal experience is anything to go by, we tend to carry IDs in the phone wallet case. Lose one, lose the other. Sigh.

The worst part is, I know this is a terrible idea, and yet I carry all my eggs in the very same basket.

At least I've had the good sense to leave my physical driver's licence in the car I use 99% of the time after we got a driver's licence app - I can now simply show the police my cellphone with a QR code and a control animation on it, and they can verify my licence class and expiry date on the spot.

Maybe I'm weird then, I have a case with all my physical cards and I carry it in the opposite pocket from my phone

I’m one of the only people I know with a wallet style phone case with cards/id in it but I think I’ve just decided to go back to a separate wallet/card case. Will help thin down the phone too since I’ll probably just go caseless.

In NSW we have digital licences. My APEC business traveller card is now digital as well. 2 forms of 50 odd points of ID

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