Show HN: Use Their ID – Use Your Local UK MP's ID for the Online Safety Act (use-their-id.com)

As someone who was involved in the original guerilla digital activism that spawned the third-person URL format for independent UK government-watching websites (ie "Write to Them", "They Work for You"), I applaud your on-topic brand extension, Tim :)

qualeed · 36m ago

I like the spirit but wouldn't this run afoul of one or two laws? Identity fraud or some such?

I'm not in the UK, so I don't have any idea about their laws, but I'd be shocked to find this was above board. Your FAQ claims it's a parody site and claims "The ID number isn't valid and you can't use the card for anything real." but you've just confirmed here it can indeed be used for real things (discord, reddit).

Your domain registration is UK-based, so, be careful!

nemomarx · 8m ago

If you can fool discords implementation with a video game character they can't actually be checking very well?

qualeed · 6m ago

I certainly agree!

However, I doubt that's a strong legal argument.

chippiewill · 28m ago

I agree, the UK Police wouldn't typically let you get away with "it's just a joke". This would constitute a mixture of identity theft, fake ID and misuse of computers.

timje1 · 21m ago

It's literally just sticking the MPs name into an AI and asking for it to generate a mock ID for them. None of their real data is being used (e.g. their face, their DoB, the address) and the mock IDs wouldn't fool anyone for a second. I'd love if someone who understands the law would weigh in though

John7878781 · 1m ago

It's better to be safe than sorry. For your own best interest, I would shut down the site and delete this post.

Mindwipe · 31m ago

The only way you'd ever get found out is if the affected MP was lying to the public and the identity documents do indeed get retained...

qualeed · 30m ago

>The only way you'd ever get found out is if the affected MP was lying to the public and the identity documents do indeed get retained...

I'm more talking about the developer of the site rather than the users. And the developer could potentially be found out if they posted it on a popular hacking website and used a known alias and registered the domain in the UK.

But, if they're comfortable, all the more power to them. As I said, I do really like the spirit of the site.

arrowsmith · 26m ago

The generated addresses aren't real. It gave a London address for my MP; I know where he lives and it isn't London.

Most MPs' home addresses are actually quite easy to find. Mine's was printed below his name on the ballot paper last election – a nice reminder of how we used to have a high-trust society. I doubt this practice will be continued for much longer.

timje1 · 20m ago

Yeah the address on all the IDs is for parliament. I assume one could find em there

gardnr · 17m ago

It looks like the code was/is going to be published?

From the FAQ:

> How did you do this?

> This site uses React for the frontend and Node.js for the backend. The MP data is fetched from the UK government public API, and the AI-generated images use the latest model from open AI. The images are stored on a Cloudflare R2 bucket. The code is open source, so you can check it out on GitHub. It was done in a hurry.

The git repo linked from that FAQ shows a 404: https://github.com/timje/use-my-mps-id

1a527dd5 · 25m ago

I think this is a fun project, but I'm not sure I'd leave this up for much longer.

MPs can be litigious. Especially if this is seen to be enabling things like ID fraud.

Also, there are only 650 constituencies. I would pre-populate the list so when entering a new postcode, it doesn't stall waiting for AI.

crinkly · 17m ago

MPs will be immediately trying to hang the civil service for telling them this was a good idea. Don't expect legal action. Do expect buck passing.

travisgriggs · 9m ago

I wish there was a modern day version of "Yes, [Prime] Minister" for this kind of stuff. It's like the episodes could write themselves by the week.

Spivak · 20m ago

You want a different photo each time to avoid easy filter lists.

DalasNoin · 35m ago

Always tells me that the MP wasn't found for my selected area.

bargainbin · 32m ago

Just like any other interaction with your local MP…

timje1 · 33m ago

what's the postcode?

Muromec · 36m ago

>It's a small, silly protest at the stupidity of the Online Safety Act that just came into force. The IDs actually work (for Reddit, Discord etc.) which highlights how terrible this implementation is.

Could you give a short TL;DR of how ids are constructed so we can all laugh here in comments?

timje1 · 31m ago

it's literally just the MPs name. It's a fake DoB (because their DoB's aren't public knowledge anymore) all the numbers and such are nonsense, the images wouldn't fool a human for one second. The AI tools don't let you generate an ID for any real human being (because that sounds like all sorts of fraud) so you can't upload a picture of the MP or anything like that - so I just let the model fill in whatever face it thinks is appropriate for the given name.

arrowsmith · 25m ago

> because their DoB's aren't public knowledge anymore

Most are on Wikipedia, no?

evil-olive · 26m ago

it's a bit buried in the FAQ - if you're a non-UK user like I am and just want to see what the output looks like, Keir Starmer's postcode is WC2B6NH so inputting that will give you an already-generated example of the output.

arrowsmith · 21m ago

> Keir Starmer's postcode is WC2B6NH

It's actually the postcode of a WeWork in Holborn (which happens to be in Starmer's constituency.)

Keir Starmer's postcode is SW1A 2AA.

crinkly · 22m ago

This is great. Weaponising the stupidity of the idea, compromising it entirely until it's so obviously ineffectual it's unenforceable, then going after the politicians who pushed it for the waste of money and effort.

Create a scandal. Bad PR is the only way out now.

Mindwipe · 32m ago

Always tells me an MP can't be found despite multiple attempts.

timje1 · 26m ago

Seems like open AI is rate limiting me for a minute, I didn't expect to get top of HN this quickly. Use Starmer's for now - WC2B6NH

philipwhiuk · 28m ago

Are you putting in a valid UK postcode?

spullara · 37m ago

uk ain't playin' these days, i would take it down if you are under their jurisdiction