Our (privatized) mail service offers an identification process to third parties where you either walk into a post office with your physical ID card or you make a video call with a call center and show it to them. I don’t think they transmit any more data than “over 18 yes/no”. So while data hording might often be the reason, I don’t think it’s the only one ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yeah that was the language barrier speaking. ID of course. You know you can get a new card at your local Einwohnermeldeamt (for a fee)?
It’s called AusweisApp:
The German passport ID card (and I’m sure many others) has a NFC chip in it and you can use it with an open source app to securely prove your identity online. In cases like this, the only information pulled from your ID would be “over 18” or “not over 18”.
It’s one of the few things my government did right in the digital space. And yet almost nobody in the private sector uses this. I’m tired of being asked to upload a photo of my ID for age verification.
Yes I do. I want an actual smart TV with a practical, open source, TV-optimitzed Linux OS. It’s not that software on a TV is a bad idea in itself. It’s how it’s ruined by for-profit companies.
Fun fact: Einwohnermeldeamt is the shortest German word beside “Ja”, “Nein” and “Wadenbeinfraktur”