Because the alternative is that we provide our passport to every online service that 'needs' to verify our identity. Then – lo, would you believe it! – they get hacked, and now all of our data is in the wild again.
I'd much rather the government, who already know everything about me because may I remind you they issued the documents, had some way of that company querying my 'verified identity'. They might do it by me providing, say, an ID number string which is looked up. That's all they get: my ID number. In return, they get confirmation that I am who I say I am.
Oh by the way I already have at least 2 of these ID numbers as an Australian citizen. My aforementioned passport, and my driver licence. Both of which I know I should keep 'private', lol, but if I want to interact with the world in any meaningful way the reality is that I spray these digits – along with my date of birth and address and whatever else they ask for – all over the goddamned place.
But sure, centralised identity is bad.
I really really really don't want to 'verify my identity' everywhere. Why the F is that normalised these days?? If I buy something online my payment and delivery address is all they should need. And all they've had to have for the last 30 years
> I'd much rather the government, who already know everything about me because may I remind you they issued the documents, had some way of that company querying my 'verified identity'.
Um yeah but right now they don't know what you do with your life all the time. Anna have absolutely no business to.
That's what verifying your identity is for. The payment. This cuts down on fraud. My credit cards often require me to enter a code they text me for a purchase to go through, when it's somewhere online I've never shopped before. That's confirming my identity. And my credit card needed my identity originally to look up my credit history, because they're literally loaning money.
Businesses want to know who you are to reduce fraud. Otherwise people input stolen credit cards, the charges get reversed, and the business is out of merchandise and money.
Obviously if you pay in something irreversible like Bitcoin then a business generally couldn't care less who you actually are, as long as there aren't any know-your-customer regulations (like if you're a bank or the address is in a sanctioned country etc).
The fix is very simple, but requires more interaction: (1) You ask merchant for stuff (2) Merchant sends you a "money claim" (3) you sign your money claim (4) the merchant takes the signed claim to the bank (5) the bank verifies the signature using your public key (6) bank transfers the money to merchant from your account