[Discuss] Google wants images of my passport, driver's license, bank statement, etc.

[invalid at pizzashack.org (Derek Martin)]

On Sun, Aug 26, 2012 at 12:59:32AM +0000, Edward Ned Harvey (blu) wrote:
> #2  If your account is on hold (you're being prompted for
> verification driver's license, passport, bank statements, etc) call
> the Google Wallet support number, or use Click 2 Call, to have them
> call you.  
[...]
> Two days later (maybe three) I got a response from the second level
> person, saying my account has been verified, taken off hold, and I'm
> now permitted to make purchases through google wallet again.

I'm honestly not sure what to make of this...  On the one hand, you
got Google to back down from their excessively draconian security
policies, so yay!  But on the other hand, someone at Google security
seems to be convinced that these measures are useful and important,
yet they allowed you to bypass them basically by complaining about
them.  Are they important, or aren't they?

Or, the third option is that no one at Google security really thinks
these measures are useful or important, but it's a nice excuse to get
anyone who isn't mindful of privacy issues to give them their private
documents, to be archived and used at some later date for evil
purposes unknown.

Whichever option you choose, I think it makes Google look bad.  Option
one is probably marginally better than the other two, since they seem
to genuinely want to help you protect your account (at least if you
take their security measures at face value), but the policies are
really excessive and overreaching.  This is a problem inherent with
doing business on-line though: there's no store where you can walk in
and simply SHOW them your credentials.  Or, if there is, it's in
Backfoot, Idaho (a real place) or some other very far away place.


-- 
Derek D. Martin    http://www.pizzashack.org/   GPG Key ID: 0xDFBEAD02
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