We haven't travelled overseas since before she was born due to the challenges with her food allergies and then, the travel restrictions due to Covid, as well as a lack of money last year as we were renovating our kitchen instead. The plan is/was to travel as a family in the summer for the first time, taking Smallsteps on a plane to somewhere guaranteed to be warm and get some sunshine. However, there is one little wrinkle in the planning so far, which is I don't currently have a valid passport.
Last night, I finished jumping through the hoops and ordered one, which is made a little more challenging as there isn't an Australian Embassy in Finland, and the nearest consulate is in Sweden, or the Embassy in Germany. The other thing that makes it a challenge is that while it is possible to submit the application online, there are a lot of forms that require signatures, and they have no E-signing solution, such as AdobeSign. On top of this, payments are required and they have no online solution to take this either, which is insane in this day and age.
Firstly, to get the signatures, it means printing out the forms, signing them, scanning them into a pdf and then uploading them into the website again. It is wildly inefficient and...
Who the hell has a scanner these days?
In Finland, this would all be handled through banking apps for ID verification and signatures, where all the major banks have verification processes in place. They also have a system where the verification is handled through several banks, randomizing the process somewhat to mitigate the risk of one bank leveraging the process for nefarious means.
Banks already have enough nefarious activities as it is.
In terms of convenience, this system is very, very smooth, and it allows people to log into all kinds of websites securely, with very little chance of ID theft. In terms of digitization of the monetary processes, Finland has been ahead of the curve in many ways and Finns themselves are very tech savvy, even in the older generations. My in-laws are over 75 and do all of their banking online. I think that some people forget that someone who is 75, was still working and had over ten years left in their career, when the internet was introduced and commonly used in business.
Old people aren't as technologically incompetent, as they once were.
This is definitely something to consider in regards to the future of crypto too. Going forward, there are going to be increasing numbers of decision makers in companies and cashed-up consumers who have been raised with a smartphone in their hand and conditioned to spend their attention, spending their money on entertainment, as well as micro payments and investments. They are going to demand differently and value differently.
Why are they cashed-up?
Because the Boomers are dying and the majority of the trillions in global private wealth is going to be changing hands, pushed down through the generations in the form of real estate and investments. This will fall to the lucky Xs and Ys with savvy parents (not me), and they are technically skilled and primed to spend, not save.
That was a long "Firstly" and dived into the Secondly, as well as got off track into what might be considered a Thirdly.
Secondly....
The payment process for a credit card was insane! I had to fill an online form, print it out, sign it, scan it, and upload it again. I also had to agree to take a call and give the CVC (card verification code) security number over the phone to someone.
What the fuck!!
This is 2023....
29 years ago.
And the Australian government still hasn't worked out how to take a secure, online credit card payment?? I feel like I am being scammed. For example, I just renewed my LastPass subscription and in order to purchase using a credit card, the verification was pushed through to my bank authenticator app (which is separate to the banking app itself) for confirmation. Then, there is an additional password required to confirm. This is the same for every online purchase I make, no matter what it is and, every bank has to have this kind of system for online purchases such as this. There are other additional security layers and options that can be user defined, like where cards can be used, giving authority by country.
This was the note talking of a data breach where identities were stolen through a mistake at a telco, and people had to change all of their IDs. And here, on the official passport site, they are using printed and scanned forms and wanting CVC numbers to be given over the phone to some stranger - in a world where it is possible to spoof phone numbers and ID information...
Government security.
The security I have is coming through Finnish services, not Australian, because even with the CVC code, any purchases online (or anywhere I haven't approved) will get pushed to my app for confirmation, so I will see what it is, where it is and know exactly whether it is me doing it.
That is pathetic.
Governments can change all the legislation they want in terms of data security, but really, they are one of the biggest weak links in the chain. Look at the "leak of government documentation" recently from the US, where 100-odd pages of sensitive information was supposedly uploaded to the internet - by a 21 year old reservist.
Come on!! Seriously?
Regardless of their ineptitude with technology, this is also the only viable way for me to get a passport to travel, which is also kind of funny, because we will likely travel in the EU and these days, the passport is often not required. I went all the way to Portugal without one, but if they ask, I would need it - just in case. And, based on my looks,
I am likely to get asked.
My wife got her passport renewed last year. It took a couple days. We also got Smallsteps her first ever - that took a couple days too. Now it is a case of waiting to see if I have jumped through the right hoops in time to get a passport delivered before we have to book - which is very soon!
Some governments are more efficient than others.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]