KYC = Know Your Customer, a team I just learned recently. It’s primarily related to financial transactions, to make crimes like money laundering or terrorism financing harder. Up until relatively recently this was something that primarily happened face-to-face, and it doesn’t seem like good controls have been developed for online use.
I think some ID cards are single-sided, some are double-sided. One of the big problems is most Americans only have a state-issued ID, not a federal one, and the standards vary from state to state. They’ve tried to address this some with minimum standards for state IDs (mainly driver’s licenses) under a program called Real ID (enacted after 9/11 hijackers got state-issued IDs for false identities), but it was still optional for certain purposes, at least until recently. In my state for a long time when renewing your driver’s license it was optional to do the extra paperwork for a Real ID, but then there would be a note on the top that it was not valid for federal identification purposes, such as accessing certain government facilities or boarding an airplane. Since I have a passport I’ve never bothered with it, but it looks like this year getting a Real ID is mandatory when getting or renewing a driver’s license in my state.
Or try actually giving the real answer is that the federal government in the USA only have the powers granted to it by the constitution and identifying citizens is not one of them. Powers not granted to the federal government are what the states are for and many people including myself, an atheist, don’t want increased government surveillance and identification.
KYC = Know Your Customer, a team I just learned recently. It’s primarily related to financial transactions, to make crimes like money laundering or terrorism financing harder. Up until relatively recently this was something that primarily happened face-to-face, and it doesn’t seem like good controls have been developed for online use.
I think some ID cards are single-sided, some are double-sided. One of the big problems is most Americans only have a state-issued ID, not a federal one, and the standards vary from state to state. They’ve tried to address this some with minimum standards for state IDs (mainly driver’s licenses) under a program called Real ID (enacted after 9/11 hijackers got state-issued IDs for false identities), but it was still optional for certain purposes, at least until recently. In my state for a long time when renewing your driver’s license it was optional to do the extra paperwork for a Real ID, but then there would be a note on the top that it was not valid for federal identification purposes, such as accessing certain government facilities or boarding an airplane. Since I have a passport I’ve never bothered with it, but it looks like this year getting a Real ID is mandatory when getting or renewing a driver’s license in my state.
Minnesota just extended it to 2025 again. I can’t get into federally secure buildings, but I can board a plane.
And until I can’t, I’m not going to. Part of me likes to think they haven’t mandated it yet because I’m holding out.
Which is really because of pure laziness than actual protest
It’s mostly a religious thing. The “left behind” Christians believe a federal ID is the “Mark of the Beast”.
Or try actually giving the real answer is that the federal government in the USA only have the powers granted to it by the constitution and identifying citizens is not one of them. Powers not granted to the federal government are what the states are for and many people including myself, an atheist, don’t want increased government surveillance and identification.