May be a stupid question, but it occurred to me that when renewing official IDs, fingerprints are registered, and of course, there’s a clean shot of your face. Kinda makes me uncomfortable, since fascism seems to be on the rise pretty much everywhere. How do you guys deal with this? Necessary evil?
I don’t remember ever being fingerprinted to get ID. Maybe when I got a passport as a kid, but never for a driver’s license.
There are countries where a government ID is needed from opening a bank account to buying even prepaid Sim cards to LPG, electricity connection and everything in between and this ID requires you to give your all 10 fingerprints, iris scan and photo from all 3 angles. And to top it all off this data is leaked multiple times.
That seems so insecure. I wish governments cared more about the effects of data theft on individuals.
It depends where you are and what you’re renewing. Lots of these things (photos/fingerprints/etc) may be optional. Research beforehand, talk with the staff, express your concerns, be polite, and see which parts you can opt out.
What country are you in that requires you to register fingerprints?
I don’t know about OP but in México when you get your driver’s license, passport or file taxes, fingerprints and iris recognition are a must, no exceptions.
Interesting. Has it always been that way or is that a recent development?
I usually ignore renewals as much as I can. My last ID card was 8 years overdue.
Fair enough. Any plan in case you need to leave (or flee) your country?
I live in the EU and thus I can travel pretty far away without having to ever show my ID card. Maybe it’s just personal experience but whenever I had to show it, no-one cared about it wasn’t valid anymore.
Another trick is acting stupid: “Oh, thank you! I didn’t notice! When would a normal person check that, eh? 🙂 … Right on next Monday I’ll going to renew it!” and then hasta la vista, we won’t meet ever again anyways.
The next time I have to renew it, is in 2031. I guess I won’t renew it till 2040.
depending on how you look, what your hair & skin colour is, you may be checked “randomly” while you’re walking home or when you’re crossing borders on a train. If your ID isn’t valid, they won’t just “not care about it”
that polite policeman passing you by with a “good day” would wake me up on the train to
checkharass me to see if i’m hiding who knows what in my testicles 🤬Maybe it’s just personal experience
your experience doesn’t reflect Europe, it is a commentary about what you see in the mirror
depending on how you look
… and even more where you cross the border. If I want to go (like in “just walk there”) from Poland to Germany, I could use this bridge for example:
It’s really just an ordinary bridge across a river, no border patrol, no ID check, nothing. Just walk from one country into another.
Or if I want to cross the border from Germany to France, I could just use that publicly accessible hiking path:
(Seen from French side, the barrier where the people sit is the whole border crossing point.) And this bridge with a view brings you from France to Spain.
Except border check points you’ll find luxury housing on French side and commercial buildings (stores and some warehouses) on Spain side.
At no point in that imaginary journey (now that I think about it, this would make a great road trip with hiking parts) you need your ID card when you travel to another country.
Long story short: It’s really easy to cross borders in the EU.
