Comment by Swizec
> If only governments could provide a very simple “check identity” service online. I think this should be a basic service nowadays.
Slovenia issues personal certificates so you can identify yourself online. Mostly used for banking and e-gov. The commercial space has decided it’s too cumbersome.
Fantastic idea. Started rolling out when I was in college some 15 years ago. You go to the same place that issues your govt ID and you can also get the equivalent of an SSH cert issued by the government that guarantees you are you, your identity was verified at point of issuance, etc.
Unfortunately it’s about as fiddly to use as SSH. Okay for nerds, way cumbersome for normal humans who just want to log into their bank and pay their taxes damn it. Last I remember (moved to USA ~10 years ago) getting their e-signing browser widgets/extensions to work reliably on non-windows machines was hell. Most Mac/Linux users ran a whole VMWare VM just to do taxes once a year.
Imagine if you had to provide your government ID to use any website.
Even for employment I find the idea iffy, but seeing as it's in response to an actual non-imagined problem, I suppose it's the most reasonable solution to that...