from Hacker News

Can you smuggle data in an ID card photo?

by edent on 5/6/25, 5:19 AM with 9 comments

  • by MartijnHols on 5/6/25, 7:39 AM

    One thing to consider is that if you were to succeed in placing hidden text/image on an ID card, it may fail manual forgery checks at airports and police stations. One of the many ways IDs are checked is with different types of lighting[1]. This might have made this stand out as an artifact, which could result in an officer doubting its legitimacy.

    [1] https://www.airport-suppliers.com/supplier-press-release/the...

  • by tW4r on 5/6/25, 6:38 AM

  • by weinzierl on 5/6/25, 7:14 AM

    In Germany there is a discussion about only allowing approved photographers for passport photos and them sending the pictures directly to the authorities.

    They are also very picky about the images here. When I got a new passport recently they investigated my images thoroughly with a magnifying glass and almost rejected them because of a few white pixels you could not see with the naked eye. Only when they saw that the pixels were different between multiple copies they conclude that it was probably a printer issue and found one copy that had almost none which they accepted.

    I think authorities are well aware of the risk mentioned in the article here.

  • by pomian on 5/6/25, 6:26 AM

    Very cool discussion and ideas. A true HN article. Need to translate though - unless of course you are Polish.
  • by antonpirker on 5/6/25, 6:27 PM

    This reminds me of Nico Alm who was wearing a colander as hat on his picture of his passport. He argued that religious hats are allowed and he is a pastafari :-)
  • by poisonborz on 5/6/25, 1:06 PM

    Why use the most often scanned and scrutinized item in your inventory? Why not a family photo in your wallet or a fake discount card?