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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3678 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 11, 2022

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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Could you elaborate on the SSN aspect? In the US one's SSN number is treated as kind of the ultimate verification for things, someone having it is a Very Big Deal. Is it used the same way in Sweden? While I'd be concerned for my privacy with some of the other aspects, I feel like having SSN publicly available would effectively make it worthless.

IIRC almost all of Europe uses some kind of two-factor authentification that depends on a government issued ID at some level for nearly everything.

It isn't really used for verification, no. Just a unique personal identifier for communicating with e.g. government agencies and banks; but there we're basically always using 2-factor authentication on top (a certificate you e.g. install on your phone, plus a code) so it doesn't really matter if my ID gets out.

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