People who have a passport card (or book) but don't have another RealID (either because they never bothered, or because their state wanted to charge extra for it). Or, as happened to me once, whose driver's license is expired (only by a couple of days, but that's enough).
gabeio · 3h ago
> either because they never bothered, or because their state wanted to charge extra for it
Or because their state barely managed to rolled it out at all and since they already have a passport card it makes no huge difference now. Not arguing just annoyed at my state.
okdood64 · 3h ago
2014: Who would not carry their wallet and solely rely on their iPhone to pay for things when running errands?
I understand it's cool to be cynical on HN but: this is a step in the direction for a future world where a lot of countries will let you in with a digital passport.
Now whether you think that's a good thing or not, that's a different story.
danielfoster · 2h ago
Many US citizens overseas visiting the US do. And plenty of New Yorkers who moved to the city but never updated their license do as well.
toomuchtodo · 4h ago
I use a passport card, doesn’t contain my home address and works for age/identity verification and TSA (domestic air travel). With that said, TSA IDEMIA hardware that has to make a passport query to identity proof at a checkpoint is a few seconds slower than a driver's license or Global Entry card if that matters to you.
I've never used anything else other than my passport to travel domestically. Main reason being that when I first moved to the US, I was couch surfing and didn't have a permanent address. When I finally got my own apartment and went to get a state ID card, the experience at the DMV made me not want to return to get a real ID card, so I just use my passport and don't have to worry about whether it's in compliance or not.
op00to · 3h ago
I use a Global Entry card or US Passport Card. I do not have a "REAL ID". Both my GE card and Passport Card don't have my address, which protects my identity from prying TSA eyes.
IncreasePosts · 3h ago
I do.
nine_zeros · 1h ago
> Who uses their passport for domestic travel?
You need it in countries with haphazard kidnappings - like the US.
pxoe · 5h ago
Could not come at a worse time politically.
tonyhart7 · 4h ago
"Could not come at a worse time politically."
elaborate on that more
toomuchtodo · 4h ago
It'll be weaponized against you if you are not a loyalist or you rock the boat.
> It'll be weaponized against you if you are not a loyalist or you rock the boat.
Chris was a high-ranking official. I think if you aren't well-known in any of the spheres, then 47's shenanigans would not impact you.
toomuchtodo · 2h ago
They're ingesting and analyzing social media. Might you fly under the radar? Certainly. Could there be consequences if the spotlight hits you? Also true. Recourse? Good luck waiting for your case to work through the judicial system.
bananapub · 6h ago
Let’s not normalise using your phone, containing all your secrets, as ID. And especially not interacting with it in front of unrestrained representatives of state authority.
Just carry a bit of inert - as inert as possible - plastic instead
Zanni · 2h ago
You don't have to share your phone, or its secrets, to use this. At the TSA checkpoint, there's a screen that says specifically what information they're asking for, you tap, and your phone shares that. You never lose physical control of your phone. No one even looks at the screen. It's basically tap-to-pay for authentication.
zitsarethecure · 5h ago
Personally, I fully expect this to gradually become the primary method by which all ID is issued and used. Cell phones are already effectively mandatory to function in our society, so whether you need to target a protest of potential dissidents or an audience of potential customers, it's the perfect one stop shop for our newly emerging highly integrated state+industry power structure.
lbotos · 5h ago
I had to get my license renewed the other day and I watched an older person pull out a 2000s coolpix digital camera and bring up a picture of the barcode on the screen on the back to sign in.
Which, I oddly had respect for.
xattt · 5h ago
Sony sold a passport camera that I’ve seen in use these days, and apparently still in demand:
These days, you'll have to keep the plastic in some kind of metallic sleeve. The RFID chip in US Green Cards, and I imagine passport cards as well, is designed to be readable from across a room.
bombcar · 5h ago
But not from the phone, if you put it the wrong way around.
An iPhone can read the RFID but you have to know that it is NOT where the icon is, but actually on the backside of the hard thick page (or something, I forget).
gabeio · 3h ago
> I imagine passport cards as well
As someone who has a passport card, I can confirm it definitely has an RFID chip in it. Ironically they come in a protective sleeve.
jmhammond · 1h ago
Did you ever try scanning it with one of those passport checker apps? I tried this morning after reading this thread and couldn’t get it to work
arccy · 6h ago
and how many places will accept this...
tuckerman · 24m ago
This was a similar issue with android/apple pay at the beginning (at least in the states where card tapping was less common). I expect given enough time it will become more common to verify your age at bars/stores, get through airports, etc with just a phone/watch tap.
wil421 · 5h ago
TSA might but the airline and your destination will not.
bombcar · 5h ago
Airlines just use your face these days. Immigration will want to see the passport (unless you’re returning and have global entry then they just use your face).
Or because their state barely managed to rolled it out at all and since they already have a passport card it makes no huge difference now. Not arguing just annoyed at my state.
I understand it's cool to be cynical on HN but: this is a step in the direction for a future world where a lot of countries will let you in with a digital passport.
Now whether you think that's a good thing or not, that's a different story.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_passport_card
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/need-pa...
You need it in countries with haphazard kidnappings - like the US.
elaborate on that more
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/30/politics/chris-krebs-cbp-glob...
Chris was a high-ranking official. I think if you aren't well-known in any of the spheres, then 47's shenanigans would not impact you.
Just carry a bit of inert - as inert as possible - plastic instead
Which, I oddly had respect for.
https://www.ebay.ca/b/Sony-DKC-200-299-9x-Digital-Zoom-Digit...
An iPhone can read the RFID but you have to know that it is NOT where the icon is, but actually on the backside of the hard thick page (or something, I forget).
As someone who has a passport card, I can confirm it definitely has an RFID chip in it. Ironically they come in a protective sleeve.