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I've looked at some Show HN submissions initially feeling impressed and finding it's either not even working code or it's obvious AI code someone is trying to take credit for writing themselves. If GitHub is used now as a resume builder but AI can do all the work, the signal is basically gone.

AWS only requires a card from me. I tried registering at Hetzner and they wanted a picture of my passport.

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.


It used to be "innocent until proven/suspected guilty." Now it's more like "let's see that ID, you know, just in case..."

I'm not a legal expert/lawyer but I do think a lot of this is not the company just randomly wanting to do it, but lawyer driven development. No company wants to introduce more friction for no reason, unless somehow there's precedent or risk involved in not doing it. Curious to know what legal precedents or laws have changed recently.

The only possible non legally driven reason I can think of would be if they think the tradeoff of extra friction (and lost customers) is more than offset by fraud protection efforts. This seems unlikely cause I don't see how that math could have changed in the last few years.


I dont. I'm happy the grift economy has some controls on it. As much as I love open source and all the efforts in collective without government interference; some security is required, otherwise we'll just invite more grift based economics.

It's bad enough living in America without the rest of the world adopting the grift economy.


It's partially because the internet only grants us free storage (noun), not free compute (verb).

Which is fundamental to so many XY problems, including why cloud services are so byzantine instead of just providing isolated secure shells with full root access within them. And why distrust is a growing force in the world instead of, say, unconditional love.

I always dreamed of winning the internet lottery so that I could help dismantle the systems of control which currently dominate our lives. Which starts with challenging paradigms from first principles. That looks like asking why we only have multicore computing in the cloud and not on our desktops (which could be used to build our own cloud servers).

When we're missing an abstraction layer, that creates injustice and a power drain from the many to the few. Some examples:

- CPU -> multicore MIMD (missing) -> GPU (based on the subset SIMD instead of MIMD upon which graphics libraries could be built)

- UDP -> connectionless reliable stream (missing) -> TCP (should have been a layer above UDB not beside it)

- UDP/TCP -> P2P (NAT and other limitations block this and were inherited by IPv6 as generational trauma) -> WebRTC (redundant if we had P2P that "just works")

- internet connection -> symmetric upload/download speed (blocked for legal reasons under the guise of overselling to reduce cost) -> self-hosted web servers (rare due to antitrust issues stemming from said legal reasons)

- internet connection -> multicast (missing due to suppression of content-addressable-memory/hash-tree/DHT/) -> self-hosted streaming (negates the need for regions and edge caching)

I had high hopes for Google and even Tesla (for disrupting the physical world). But instead of open standards, they gave us proprietary vendor lock-in: Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) and NACS instead of J1772 (better yet both). Because of their refusal to interoperate at the lowest levels, there is little hope that they will do the real work of solving the hard problems at the highest levels.

For example, I just heard that China has built thousands of battery swap stations to provide effectively instant charging for electric vehicles, whereas that's something that Tesla can't accomplish because they chose to build Supercharger stations instead.

Once we begin to see the world this way, it's impossible to unsee it. It calls into question the fundamentals (like scarcity) which capitalism is based upon, and even the concept of profit itself.

From a spiritual perspective, I believe that this understanding is what blocks me from using my talents to use the system for personal gain to win the internet lottery. The people who own the systems of control don't have this understanding, and even view its basis in empathy as a liability. So we sacrifice the good of the many for the good of the few and call that progress.


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 providers?

Unnecessarily exposing yourself to identity theft if they get compromised.


They have to operate within the laws of the countries they’re physically located in. Those countries want to know that they’re not hosting illegal content, providing services to crime rings, Russia or North Korea, etc.

If Hetzner allows you to host something and you use it for illegal acts, they aren’t going to jail to shield you for €10/month.


Hosting companies managed to shutdown illegal sites without requiring you to submit your pics and passport first.

And if someone wants to do illegal things, what's stopping them from submitting a fake ID?


You buy your fake ids at the grocery store?

No, but my local AKO newsagent does have them. Don't have a need for them though.

In my case, I submitted my drivers license, the real one, that matched other information I submitted.

They still decided my information was fake and terminated my account.

I'm never going to do business with them again.


Hetzner is like 1/10th the cost of ripoffs like AWS now, the passport data is deleted after verification and I can actually trust this claim coming from an EU company under GDPR that doesn't have any use for my personal data. You can also just bypass the passport requirement entirely by making a €20 Paypal deposit to the account.

You just hear too many horror stories of data being leaked. Even if Hetzner uses a 3rd party system to do the verification - that 3rd party probably has to store your pics for some time.

But at least if there is an alternative then great.


Never had to do this. Sounds like they were flagged as a high risk customer and that’s why.

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.

They do not. I've never had to present any documentation whatsoever to Hetzner and have been a happy customer for many years.

As I understand it, they ask only from accounts that check several boxes for common cases of abuse. So basically, personal accounts (as opposed to business accounts) from poor countries (by per capita, so e.g. India qualifies as poor).


I signed up yesterday and didn't have to provide anything.

i don't do anything bad and my passport isn't exactly any secret, i gladly submit it too Hetzner.

So in order to stop the next Nazis, promote racism against white people and then if they complain that is proof they were planning to become Nazis.

> Young people, people of color, queer folks, activists, and organizers use Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook every day.

This probably isn't just an HN problem (GH's model is broken now). It's so cheap to make software that the previous process of releasing something new associated with a person is probably outdated. AI knows what sounds impressive too. So now we're drowning in software releases and attributing software to a person is meaningless.


How much of this was by AI?


It doesn't even compile, the whole thing is evidently built on vibes.


It doesn't compile for you or doesn't compile at all? Honest question. It's a nice project in the face of it but if it's all AI fever dreams that would be disappointing. I don't have the cycles to try it out right now.


It won't compile for anyone, it's not a real software project.


Bummer


I suspect that if Palantir had the same exact business model but the CEO had supported Kamala Harris, this campaign would not exist. Or if Palantir had said it supported targeting "fascists" the same people denouncing it would be supporters. So if you're actually serious about sovereignty it probably needs a whole campaign around that cause.


Nonsense


I think security became part of compliance so security recommendations got detached from actual security. It seems like a lot of security recommendations are just busy work that justifies having a huge compliance industry. So an example of this might be security scanners for code where the output is not even useful. But using the tool, which searches for irrelevant findings, is required for compliance even if it basically does nothing for security.


Who watches the compliance industry?



I haven't gone on in many years, almost decades. I feel like it was both a huge waste of time but also useful. I eventually lost interest in keeping up with it all. I am surprised anyone's mind can handle being there for long. Even m00t himself left and I don't think ever came back.


Are you opposed to the Voting Rights Act?


Haven't thought about it much tbqh.


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