Is this a Brazil law thing or businesses just using it as a readymade ID?

matheusmoreira a day ago | parent | next [-]

Both. Brazilian KYC/AML laws are based around the CPF number. It also serves corporations as a stable ID to identify people and track them. It's possible that it's a primary key in their databases.

For example, it's common to get cashback in stores in exchange for the CPF number. They track you, comply with regulations and reward you -- all with one government ID.

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alex43578 12 hours ago | parent [-]

Man, seems like those two uses are self-defeating. KYC/AML, but used for things as banal as store rewards. Seems really easy to not know who the actual KYC user is then…

	▲	matheusmoreira an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Correct. There are online CPF generators out there. If you ask someone for a CPF, there's a chance they'll simply make one up.

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Qem a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Until recently Brazil had no unified national ID document. Each state had theirs. It was possible to have IDs from more than one state. As the tax ID was unique for the whole country, people started using it as unique identifier of choice.

	▲	cesarb a day ago \| parent [-]
		You left out the ending: now we do have an unified national ID document (under gradual adoption, it'll be a few years until it's required), and its number is that tax ID (CPF).