[pzo]

The difference you barely have to show you physical ID - mostly only when interacting with bank, signing document, government. I never got asked when buying alcohol and if asked at least I would only let to have a look instead of snapping a picture.

Imagine if suddenly every grocery, pharmacy, petrol station, parking place, restaurant, bar etc. now would ask you for your ID AND would snap a picture and store in their database - you wouldn't be happy about it.

[vladvasiliu]

It's pretty common to have to show some form of state-issued ID when entering bars and the like in France if the bouncer thinks you're underage. Ditto for buying alcohol. Hell, in the US I've had to go back to the hotel to grab my passport to enter a bar. My French driver's license and balding head weren't enough.

But you do have a point about "storing the picture". I think that's why it's very important for whatever solution is chosen to be something that proves you're old enough without saying who you are.

[maccard]

If you want an example of how this will be abused by companies, https://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/aug/12/airport-shops-...

[gib444]

And if you want an example of who has the power these days, I've encountered airport shops that are "take it leave it" (WHSmith in Spain in fact). I was told they can't require my boarding pass, but they won't sell me anything without it... (There was no language barrier)

[rightbyte]

Isn't that a tax thing on airports? I don't think it is the same problem.

[mambru]

That's not now it works.

At least in my country, the ID app lets you generate 3 levels of QR:

Level 1: Just age (also shows a photo on the screen). This is what you would typically use to go in a club or buy alcohol.

Level 2: Adds Full name, birth date, validity date.

Level 3: All the data you can see on the physical ID card.

[jeroenhd]

Why would they? The only reasons to show ID I can think of is when watching porn or maybe when buying alcohol online, though I doubt stores will want to risk driving customers away with that.

[dwedge]

Or using social media, signing up for any account where you can post content, and soon creating an account on your own device.

As for why would they, the same reason there are hundreds of tracking cookies on every site.

[pmlnr]

The same social media that stores everything down to your keystrokes? Sure, the problem is needing a gov ID, sure.

[dwedge]

Self aware wolf. You don't see the problem with associating that level of tracking with your gov id?

[throwthrowuknow]

Consider that stores create reward point systems specifically for the purpose of connecting a customer profile to purchases.

[oe]

Yeah, the bigger chain stores already have most of this information. I don’t know if tying it to an actual ID would make much difference.

[rglullis]

Yeah, imagine if every convenience store had CCTV security filming everyone 24/7.

Oh, wait...

[pzo]

they don't know necessary who are you and what are you buying. I don't think also for big shops with many customers that techonology and reliably do instance segmentation - this is not face id.

[rglullis]

They don't, but there is a significant chance that their "security solution" uploads all the data to a cloud provider (Amazon, Google, Oracle) which will be more than happy to analyze the data for them.

[jonathanstrange]

That's possible but would be completely and highly illegal, the EU regularly fines companies violating GDPR, and those fines are not trivial at all, they can be quite hefty.

[rglullis]

I was talking about the reality of the US, but even if I was talking about Europe: how does the GDPR even enter this equation here? I was never asked for consent to have my face recorded when I get into a shop in Germany. Were you?

[ragall]

Security recordings fall into the category if legitimate need, and have to be deleted after a short while.

[xorcist]

Do you not pay for you groceries? Then the store probably has a good idea about your identity. In any case, they payment processor knows exactly who you are, and the store and anyone else who cares can buy this information online, albeit in a slightly obfuscated form.

Unless you live at some place where they still accept cash of course, but the writing is on the wall already.

[SiempreViernes]

Doesn't stop the stores from posting clips of you embarrassing yourself online and your acquaintances giving your name away for clout.

[xethos]

Sure - that's saved for Visa or Mastercard to track your purchase history across time