alt Hacker NewsAWS only requires a card from me. I tried registering at Hetzner and they wanted a picture of my passport.
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Im in DO and tried to open an account in Heztner. It wont accept my Visa card (which is use to pay DO). So no business from me.
That's nuts. Why do they want a pic of your passport.
Absolutely no to this - reason enough to go with AWS or alternatives. And why are ppl willingly giving it to hosting provider?
Unnecessarily exposing yourself to identity theft if they get compromised.
I signed up for Hetzner a few weeks ago and didn't have to provide any ID. I pay by credit card.
Not sure what differs in our cases, I'm based in EU.
Do they always do this? I never had to present my passport as far as i can remember.
i don't do anything bad and my passport isn't exactly any secret, i gladly submit it too Hetzner.
That's a trend which is more and more common nowadays.
I wish the industry would adopt more zero knowledge methods in this regards. They are existing and mathematically proven but it seems there is no real adoption.
- OpenAI wants my passport when topping up 100 USD
- Bolt wanted recently my passport number to use their service
- Anthropic seems wants to have passports for new users too
- Soon age restriction in OS or on websites
I wished there would be a law (in Europe and/or US) to minify or forbid this kind of identity verification.
I want to support the companies to not allow misuse of their platforms, at the same time my full passport photo is not their concern, especially in B2B business in my opinion.