C++ Guy on Nostr: Agreed. In addition (and Lauren will already know this), IP addresses are often ...
Agreed. In addition (and Lauren will already know this), IP addresses are often ephemeral; you can change them at will by going to a coffee shop or a friend's house, by moving from your home Internet connection to a mobile one, or by using a VPN. Especially if you use a VPN (but not only then), your IP address will be shared with many other users and automated devices.
If someone does something naughty on your home Internet connection, you can plausibly argue that a friend was using your WiFi or that someone in the street broke into it.
A government ID, in contrast, is permanent, can be backed up by other official documents, and is not intended to be shared. It can be tracked across the Web and used to build up a picture of your activity in a way that no IP address can.
Do you want to know why Facebook and other tracking companies work so hard to link up devices used by the same person — why my old Lenovo phone used to contact graph.facebook.com when I connected Bluetooth headphones to it? Precisely because they want the kind of panopticon that a government ID would give them.
If someone does something naughty on your home Internet connection, you can plausibly argue that a friend was using your WiFi or that someone in the street broke into it.
A government ID, in contrast, is permanent, can be backed up by other official documents, and is not intended to be shared. It can be tracked across the Web and used to build up a picture of your activity in a way that no IP address can.
Do you want to know why Facebook and other tracking companies work so hard to link up devices used by the same person — why my old Lenovo phone used to contact graph.facebook.com when I connected Bluetooth headphones to it? Precisely because they want the kind of panopticon that a government ID would give them.