[tengwar2]

Credit card is a largely fixed risk of financial loss, with some legal safeguards for recovery, and the ability to get a replacement card with a different number. Passport carries an open long-term risk of impersonation and you can't just get a new passport because some company has a copy. Just the financial side of that risk can have much greater impact. Unless a company has a legal requirement to "know your customer", e.g. a financial institution, this is a red flag.

[mschuster91]

> Unless a company has a legal requirement to "know your customer", e.g. a financial institution, this is a red flag.

Germany also has legal KYC requirements for web hosting and most other things relating to telecommunications.

[tengwar2]

And if those requirements include the need to supply passport information, that's a reason not to host in Germany.

[chadgpt3]

They do.

[theturtletalks]

Couldn’t have put it better myself. Even with payment processors, most they ask for is SSN and business EIN.

When I read about the WireCard scandal, the KYC stuff sent to them over the years is probably in the hands of foreign intelligence already. That’s what gave me pause.

[locknitpicker]

> Credit card is a largely fixed risk of financial loss, (...)

This belief is deeply misguided. Do you understand that credit card transactions are used to provide access to your personal information?

Some companies even employ small token charges as identity verification processes. Payment systems such as MasterCard even explocitly offer identity verification services built around their payment system.

https://www.mastercard.com/global/en/business/cybersecurity-...

But a photo of your id card with your mobile camera is where you draw the line?