Telegram today released versions 4.9 of its iOS and Android applications with a great novelty: Telegram Passport.
This launch is part of his Telegram ID project. The first phase was Telegram Web Login, a service as Google, Facebook and others already have, by which you can use the data of a digital account to access a service. Telegram Passport is the second step, and this is all you need to know about it.
What is it?
“Telegram Passport is a unified authentication method for services that require personal identifications. With Telegram Passport you can upload your documents once, and then share your data instantly with services that require real-world identifications (finance, ICO, etc.). ”
That's what Telegram says, what is it really?
Truly, Telegram Passport will allow us - upon acceptance of the service in question - to verify our identity without the need to repeat or go through cumbersome and slow verification processes.
For example, many banks, such as N26, allow us to create a bank account electronically, but it is a video call with an agent who verifies that, indeed, we are who we say we are. N26 and other banks could add “verification with Telegram Passport”. Which would mean that in one click we would accept that N26 access our documentation already verified by Telegram.
The applications are very extensive. From banks to create accounts, electricity, water and internet services to sign contracts, to a possible (and unlikely) future in which a government could dispense with DNIe and certificates in favor of Telegram Passport as a method of identification. Also passing through apps and services that take advantage of the veracity of the data to verify accounts. Twitter, Instagram, Tinder, etc
Ah! And of course (although they don't mention it), it could be the definitive method to recover an account to which we have lost access. If, when creating the account, we create it with Telegram Passport (or with our ID, etc.) we will be able to access it when we lose the password.
A beautiful future but is it true?
No, it is not. It is still beginning and, like everything, it requires many parts for this to be functional in the future. Telegram has created the service and has made available to developers and companies everything necessary to accept this type of verification (here you can see the details).
In addition, users (already scarce in Telegram, compared to other messaging services) need to accept the security and characteristics of such a service for it to be implemented. At the end of the day, you are giving a lot of personal data to an independent company. Here, it's time to accept the reality that Telegram keeps everything safe:
"Your identification documents and personal data will be stored in the Telegram cloud using end-to-end encryption. For Telegram, this data is just random squiggles, and we do not have access to the information you store in your Telegram Passport. When you share data, it goes directly to the recipient. "
How does Telegram Passport work?
At the moment only ePayments and the Telegram test site (or your bot @TelegramPassportBot) allow us to configure Telegram Passport. Upon entering either, we will be asked to verify identity with Telegram Passport.
When pressing, Telegram will open. Remember, You must have an Android or iOS device with Telegram 4.9 or higher. Telegram X, Telegram web, and Telegram for macOS have yet to receive this update.
We will be asked to add the information requested by the service, which can be from our phone or email, to the passport, driver's license, ID, physical address or a selfie. We must provide documents that allow us to verify our identity. Photos in front and behind of documents, a bank invoice, etc.
Once this is done, we will have the Telegram Passport menu in the Telegram Settings. There, we can add, delete, edit and view all the documents that Telegram stores.
How does the verification work? What are my details used for?
Telegram, as they say, only sees doodles, but allows to verify certain things. Basically, the phone and email. When a company requests the DNI, for example, it will send the images that we have taken from our DNI in an end-to-end encrypted manner.
Although they warn that, shortly, the verification of the data may be done by third parties and leave us “verified forever”. Thus, the companies that request the data will not have to receive any type of document, only the confirmation that Telegram has verified our identity and we are who we say we are.
What does Telegram want this for? Should I be suspicious?
As a rule, always be suspicious. But here I leave you a small personal interpretation of why Telegram has created this service. I mean, I try to answer why Telegram creates this service for free, since free services usually have hidden intentions.
As I said, All this is part of the Telegram ID project, which is closely related to the other great "secret" Telegram project, creating a cryptocurrency for real use (not speculative or for "different" markets) and, in the interest of the service working and being well seen by governments and companies, anonymity does not help, but anonymity does not mean losing privacy.
Let us remember that the possible cryptocurrency of Telegram (Grams) will not come alone, the real project and product is the TON (Telegram Open Network) protocol. A system to manage payments, transfers and general management of the movement of money, which could even be used for normal currencies and not just cryptocurrencies.
Having Telegram Passport activated in advance, would allow that, when the GRAM and TON arrive, Telegram would already have millions of users with verified accounts active to buy and sell with your cryptocurrency.
The summary
Telegram Passport is part of the Telegram ID project, a system that will allow verifying a real identity in the digital world quickly, reliably and securely. From our Telegram app, we can send all our personal information that companies require. In addition, third-party verification will be allowed in the future, making it unnecessary to share the documents, since Telegram will give the go-ahead and ensure that we are who we say we are.
Your future largely depends on adoption by businesses and services, but it will also form an inseparable part of the other great project - still without official confirmation - of Telegram, its cryptocurrency, being the first step in the verification of our "Telegram Wallet" - yet to be officially presented.
