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Comment by dotancohen | Hacker News Reader

So one stolen phone really is enough to now "steal one's identity", at least insofar as payment, day-to-day access to (and government tracking of) e.g. transportation, and other daily activities?

And how are damaged phones handled?

I feel like far too much faith is being invested in far too fragile, fungible devices.

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It's already like that in countries like Denmark. A lot of people just walk around with just the phone, use apple/google wallet or MobiePay for payment, app for drivers license, Public Transport app slowly gets rolled out. Most of it is secured by 2fa from MitID.

You would also need to steal their fingers / faces.

But AFAIK for everything you can have a physical backup.

I read this article and was confused. Lot of asian countries already provide digital identities, its not some utopian impossibility. I often carry only my phone out of the house. Sure its convenient, but there are downsides as well.

You have to maintain infra for two major mobile oses (which you have no control over with apple and google as the gatekeepers). You also stifle innovation in the mobile space (ultimately the government will only produce an iphone and an andeoid apk).

Identity theft via scams is super easy. You dont need to stsal devices you just nred to convince ppl to hand over their identities.

Along with that there is the whole cybersecurity nightmare which Ive frankly found government agencies world wide the least competent in handling.

Finally while digitisation makes processes easier, governments also tend to become lazier about servicing corner cases. Lets say for some reason you dont have some information for a form or need some special assitance woth a process, earlier you would be harassed by incompetent officials, but with sufficient fervor youd be able to get the job done. Now, with automated systems you will never be able to get help cause there is nobody to help you.

stealing it and having an exploit to unlock it

Wonder how long until people get desperate enough to steal phones and the owner's thumb...

Easier to force them to unlock it then and there. Less bloody.

On my phone it requires a new fingerprint validation on transaction. So still bloody. Depending on the fingerprint scanner "no blood present" might also not work.

Yeah, that is what I mean. Force the transaction right then and there.

this has been fantasized about since the first widely available smartphones with fingerprint sensors, and to date the number of cut fingers has kept pretty low

Way before that. Recall comic books showing a future where criminals mug people on the street and remove their "money chip" from the victims torso. It's a common dystopian trope.

But so far, stolen phones are already enough to pay your rent. Wonder when it won't, but the wallet inside would buy you something even nicer.

Its rare af

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