I found this randomly interesting:
I asked Gemini how easy it is to produce a fake UK passport.
Producing a fake British passport that can successfully pass official verification is extremely difficult, highly expensive, and virtually impossible to use at automated borders.
While basic digital replicas or poorly altered physical documents can sometimes trick untrained eyes or low-level, photo-only online verification systems, modern physical and biometric security features have made true counterfeiting a massive technical challenge.
Who would benefit most from a counterfeit UK passport once they were in the country, perhaps after crossing from France in an inflatable boat?
(Post edited by the Forum team to comply with the Community Guidelines).
It’s hard to counterfeit most modern-day passports for the purposes of border control and others with the ability to scan and check official databases. To fool a layperson without such access would be easy, since they lack that ability, plus they don’t typically know what to look for, which would be the case with most THS hosts. That was the context in which we were having the exchange.
As you say, only a few agencies have the ability to read the chip and that data it has. But having a passport could be used to fool a landlord, or a hirer.
How would you be able to verify a fake passport?
I really don’t see any context where THS sitters are using forged passports to dupe hosts. Why would they when most hosts apparently don’t ask for any official ID anyway.
Do you mean basis for a third party sharing someone’s personal data? No way, not without their consent.
One thing is perceived legitimate reasons and a completely different one is what the law of a particular country or area considers as rights and obligations. They rarely coincide 100% for everyone.
The context was some hosts feeling that checking sitters’ IDs protects them. I was saying that provides a false sense of security.
Most sitters are just normal people, not faking their identities. The ones who want to fake, they can pretty easily. And unless they got caught and it was publicized, none of us would hear about that.
Consent would be needed to share someone’s data. And since that’s the case, whether it’s a legit use would be decided by that individual, not by others.
I think it’s a little creepy that you are stalking sitters social media, but I get it and might do the same as a host. Although, as a sitter, i’ve never done it. As a sitter, I usually share my location, last name and phone number and sometimes my email address if that makes iteasier for them to share their guide (or when I send them a shipping label to return things I’ve left behind.). I wouldn’t mind sharing my Id, but I imagine that unless the host included the request up front in the listing or made the request in a very personable, not weird way, I would be uncomfortable. So maybe just try not to make the request weird
100% agree but one thing is volunteering that information or answering owners’ questions and a totally different one to ask THS to share that.
I find it really interesting how a group of members of this forum tend to ask THS to participate more actively in the HO/sitter partnership agreement and another group just want the platform to provide a meeting point for HOs and sitters and let them figure out what works for them. This is what I prefer. I assume the responsibility of asking relevant questions and making my own choices.
Agreed. We have lots of agency as sitters and hosts.
Plus, THS doesn’t even do well at what it already offers and often, when they start new features, they end up creating more mess. (Where’s the face palm emoji?)
Sitters do not have your full name and address unless you give it to them
Agreed. That does nothing to mitigate the risks associated with normal people neither faking nor revealing their identities and leaving hosts to deal with any consequences arising out of the hosts not knowing who is staying in their home. The risks of those consequences can be mitigated but not eliminated. Such is life.
I think the point is that hosts have no means of verifying identity documents that a sitter might present.
My point is that there’s typically no need to worry about counterfeit IDs because most THS members with community standing aren’t trying to scam another random THS member to the point that they’re packing credible false ID. Sure it’s possible but the odds of that are so small that the risk is not worth mitigating.
Exactly!
That’s the second point, even more concerning.
However, I, personally, never got there. What I mean is that I am so independent and self sufficient that I’d rather keep the control of my own actions and deal directly with the relevant party, than rely on a third party even if they were trustworthy. Of course, this not always possible, sometimes I need to recourse to an expert but in THS case, nobody is better qualified to determine each member needs than the members themselves. Everyone being adults, the rest is dealt with using good communication strategies and having alternative options if things go sideways.
I guess that’s just part of people’s personality.