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A $4bn biz without a live product just broke the record for the amount paid for a domain name. WTF is going on?

Lee D Silver badge

The UK.

He coped well enough for 40 years without ID. He has a provisional driving licence now.

Birth certificate usually suffices, and that's not ID in any way at all.

Utility providers - er... no... never. Mobile phone contracts... er... no... never. Hell, my mobile phone contract required nothing more than a debit card. My utilities when I moved last year - I have provided them zero information beyond my name, address and payment details.

Landlords, possibly, but if you don't have ID, they can't have one, it's quite simple. And if you can have a bank account without, you can rent a flat without. I wouldn't give ID to a random when buying a car. I wouldn't even provide ID in case of a collision - they need only my insurers details and the details of the car.

My driving licence comes out of my wallet less than once a year (and I moved last year into a rented flat). And that's usually for me to check when I first got it so I can put the date into a car insurance comparison.

Hell, I've been pulled over about 6 times in the last 5 years (never even a ticking off, they just wanted to check paperwork and look busy). Once I was asked for ID.

(But, hey, the UK is living in a 1984 police state, right?).

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