Imagine someone "enthusiastically digitized" (as much as possible) in a foreign country alone and then they lose their iPhone Plane tickets, all hotel reservations, they don't remember any phone numbers. They use ApplePay and other mobile payments. Cards may be in the same wallet case.

Without a trusted device or Recovery Key, Apple may impose a security delay (24 hours to several days) before allowing a password reset. Getting new SIM and re-authenticating our life will be pain.

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ivan_gammel 12 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Temporarily losing access is just inconvenience. Imagine the same but you lost the wallet with your only cash and your passport in pre-digital times, you are far from the nearest embassy and nobody understands your language. You are fully at the mercy of the locals and your money aren‘t coming back.

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u1hcw9nx 11 hours ago | parent | next [-]

With Digital passports and ID's the route to recovery starts to get hairy.

1. You need to verify yourself in person to get id or passport. You may need someone you know with you and have real interview.

3. But government gives only digital ID's so you need a phone to get it.

4. You can't buy a new phone or get a new SIM unless you can pay for it. You can't pay for it unless you have a phone and credit cards there. But neither bank does not recognize you without digital ID.

You need friends to bootstrap your life, but you are also in the middle of loneliness epidemic and have no friends, you parents have died. What do you do?

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Muromec 11 hours ago | parent | next [-]

You are overthinking it. The physical cards to pay and identify yourself are not going anywhere. In fact, the same places that have the digital id rolled out are the places where having one issued is mandatory and often times it's also mandatory to have one in case the police asks you to identify yourself.

When I wanted to get a replacement id to be issued in the year 2019, I had to book an appointment, get to the place and by the time I got the desk, the clerk had the thing open with my face photo from the last time I had a passport issued.

There are less fortunate people, who have the hardcopy id present, but no digital file exists for it (because it was issued before the digital files became a thing) and the paper trail leads to the occupied territory. That is usually months long story where secondary sources are involved and sometimes you have to find a friend who can confirm your identity.

So yeah. Make sure that the issuing CA doesn't get overrun by orcs before the replica thinks and you a hardcopy that is trustworthy enough.

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ivan_gammel 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Does any government in the world issue only digital IDs?

There‘s always possibility to have your travel passport as a backup (and when traveling abroad your domestic ID is suitable for recovering passport).

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u1hcw9nx 11 hours ago | parent [-]

Not yet. Soon.

	▲	niels8472 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Considering the actual physical id cards have an nfc chip which is used as the second factor for the digital id, this seems unlikely.
	▲	Muromec 11 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Any governments announced the plans already? I somehow missed that, but you say it like it's a decided thing.

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lxgr 11 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It's probably not a great idea to depend on friends or family to remotely bootstrap you out of a situation like that anyway, given deepfake impersonation scams.

	▲	Muromec 11 hours ago \| parent [-]
		For that kind of a thing you usually have to be present, for which deepfakes are not a threat yet.

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loloquwowndueo 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

A wallet is a wonderful invention that allows you to lose all your important items in one fell swoop

	▲	M95D 10 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I keep ID+money separate from passport+cards.

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BrandoElFollito 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I just have one paper passport, the only passport that will be accepted abroad.

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lxgr 11 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

What's the difference to losing your backpack containing all these separate items? And conversely, it's very possible to carry a recovery Yubikey, a single-use login code etc. in a separate bag.

Getting a new (e)SIM abroad can be very annoying, depending on the mobile network, which is why I try to avoid mandatory SMS authentication as much as possible.

	▲	ab71e5 11 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yeah losing is maybe a bad example. What about a software update bricking the device, or a hardware problem?