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German public service digitization. Websites celebrating the new "digital functionality" of the federal ID card, but if you need to prolong the actual card, you have to visit a public administration center in person, no way to prove your existing valid ID in a zoom meeting although that's de-facto standard accepted even when opening a bank account, plus they have all of my data so they should know I have a valid ID and they could just send the new one to my postal address.
So I have to appear in person at their offices, so I need an appointment, but in times of covid pandemic, appointments are rare and only offered on a day-to-day basis in my hometown, that's why I have to visit their online appointment web app at 7 a.m. in the morning to grab one of the few appointments when they are released.
Don't tempt me to write a script that squats all the other appointment slots to resell at the highest prices...

Situation reminds of the times when it was even harder to get a vaccination against covid, and the media kept reporting about the minority that refused to get vaxxed, so they didn't have to admit there wasn't enough vaccine anyway.

This rant is not about politics, it's about the failure of bureaucracy, but if it was about politics, I would just quote Rezo that it shows who had governed this state for sixteen years.

When I rant about German internet connectivity, people usually reply that the web is much better in Taipeh, Bangalore or Guadalajara, so I can still have some hope that it's not all of the world that's totally lost.

So give me some hope, folks.

Comments
  • 1
    The registration office is a municipal authority, the lowest level of the hierarchy. In state-cities (Berlin, Bremen, Hamburg), it's at state level. The most fucked up situation is in Berlin - and that has been under an SPD mayor for 20 years.

    The federal gov has nothing to do with that. Rezo would know this.
  • 2
    Mildly unrelated, but it amuses me that in order to pick up a passport you have to show your driver's license (or similar).

    But in order to pick up your drivers license you have to show your passport.

    Hierarchical identity crisis.
  • 2
    @Fast-Nop you are right, and Rezo probably never claimed, it's me who cited out of context. Rezo would have known (better than me) as he studied and researched and quoted all facts and sources thoroughly. If anyone is "German in a positive way" than that's probably him.
    But thanks for pointing out and adding your experience. I should get my documents updated before moving to Berlin!
  • 1
    @ojt-rant That's a typical problem in countries that don't have ID cards and instead abuse the driving licence. At least in Germany, the document hierarchy is clear: the driving licence is only valid in conjunction with an ID card or passport.

    @fraktalisman Even getting an appointment for registering a new living address in Berlin (after moving) is difficult. You have to do that within two weeks, but if you get that done within two months, you can be happy. However, you're totally right that having valid papers with a wrong future address is still better than having none at all.
  • 3
    @Fast-Nop in Sweden the drivers license is designed as a valid id card with all the required security features and has been so for as long as I had one.

    Passports are also valid id cards but actually, going back 30 years passports actually had less security than drivers licenses.
  • 2
    The problem lies in my opinion in the simple fact that no one likes change.

    As simple as that.

    The federalism, lobbyism and nepotism Germany just makes it unbearable worse.

    IT plus politics = nightmare

    Germany electronic lawyer mailbox
    https://www.patorikku.net/bea/ (don't know the author, but was the easiest English entry I could find).

    Security - nightmare
    But the bugs are even worse. E.g. umlauts, typical in German, cannot be used in the address ... If you now ask yourself what year it is, you've probably had the right conclusion - encoding issues xD

    Just... One... Example.

    If you look at the myriad of other failed digital projects, their bugs and their known security hazards (which btw don't get fixed), I really like more the ancient times and no change (rephrased for clarity)
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