Do you trust Mt.Gox with your identity?

[d4n13]

With all the bad press going on with Mt.Gox, I decided to go over their verification stuff.

Says Photo ID (Drivers License?) and Utility bill.

Do they also require SS card or US folks?  Paypal recently wanted a scan of my SS card and I told them to go suck an egg!

Honestly I never do more than a grand or so in BTC, but the thought of my drivers license floating around out there terrifies me a lot more than loosing $500.

Do the US folks REALLY trust Mt.Gox with your ID / SS card?  How secure is their data cold storage when it comes to this kind of stuff.  How encrypted?

[d4n13]

Went ahead and opened a ticket... we'll see where it goes.

The documentation that Mt.Gox is requesting for account verification is sufficient for a criminal or disgruntled Mt.Gox employee to completely assume my identity in the USA.  Identity theft in the USA is a major problem and something that gives me great concern.

How secure are the verification documents that I send you.

Do you ensure that all soft copies are encrypted?
Do you ensure that no hard copies are ever created?
Are all communication channels over which this identity information flows encrypted?

Thx

[BitCoiner2012]

I am almost certain the response will be a fabrication to soothe you. As to whether or not I would trust Gox with my identity - I don't even trust them with my BTC.

[bystander]

While they didn't require an SS card scan from me, I don't recall if they asked for an SS Number or Tax ID.  I did send them my cell phone bill and a photo ID.

I've since closed that cell phone account and changed the address on my ID when I moved.  Yeah, it's a concern but there's nothing that can done about it now. 

[threeip]

As to whether or not I would trust Gox with my identity - I don't even trust them with my BTC.

Quoting truth.

[justusranvier]

As to whether or not I would trust Gox with my identity - I don't even trust them with my BTC.

Quoting truth.

...with your bitcoins.

[d4n13]

Yeah,  they can have my cell phone, bank account and email, those are easy to change/replace.   SSN/DL, well that is a different story.  Guess I'll just stick with the exchanges that don't require that stuff.

Sux

[niko]

They never asked me for ssn. The id and a utility bill were all they wanted. I'm sure they guard the data well, just like I'm sure no security is perfect, and everything can get hacked. DMV records, for example.

 And as for trusting them with my coins, I definiitely trust them more than my home PC.  Vast majority of "trust noone" people fail to include their own (dis)ability into the equation.

[exocytosis]

Why do they demand that the identity papers (driver's license, passport, etc.) are submitted in exactly 300 DPI? From what I understand, such a high DPI is only important if the document is to be printed ... There's no need for a very high DPI if the file is only supposed to exist digitally.

Or am I mistaken?

I'm quoting Gox here:

In order to be upgraded to a verified account a scan of a government-issued photo identification is required.  Examples include a Driver's License, Passport, or National ID Card.

Proof of Identity File Requirements:

*The document must be CURRENT, VALID, CLEAR/LEGIBLE, and in COLOR. (Expired documents will be rejected).
*The file must not be manipulated or censored in any way.
*The file must include your signature where applicable.
*Scan must include both sides of the document.
*The resolution must be 300 DPI.
*Accepted Formats: JPEG (.jpg), PNG (.png), or PDF (.pdf)

[tvbcof]

It might be pointed out that even if one trust Mt. Gox proper, one also has to trust whoever they might employ.  There is a good chance that they off-shore a lot of the grunt work.  Any one of those folks could take a little bonus in the form of a loaded thumb-drive on the way out the door.  In fact we've seen exactly such a thing happen at Mt. Gox before IIRC.

After years of avoiding it, I finally did capitulate and sent them a scan of my DL in order to make my one and only sale through them and request a wire.  That was 8/2013 and I've yet to see the $5k wire parenthetically.

I've done well over 6 figures through Coinbase and they didn't require any such data.  The cool think about this is that Mt. Gox is the only DL scan I've ever sent.  If it gets compromised I'll know exactly who did it.  For whatever good that will do.  But I'll be as mad as a hornet and have plenty of resources to go after them if that happens.

[exocytosis]

I get this error message every time I try uploading a file:

Upload failed, please retry.

I guess that means the DPI is too low? I don't have a scanner at my current location, so I used a camera to take a (good) picture of my DL. I'll have to go to a public library to scan it tomorrow, unless there's some simple way to change the DPI on my pictures.

[tvbcof]

I get this error message every time I try uploading a file:

Upload failed, please retry.

I guess that means the DPI is too low? I don't have a scanner at my current location, so I used a camera to take a (good) picture of my DL. I'll have to go to a public library to scan it tomorrow, unless there's some simple way to change the DPI on my pictures.

I would be very surprised if your guess is true.  Doing so would require the upload to be successful and some automate process to analyze the image.  My guess is that whatever server Gox is running to accept uploads has a full disk or something equally stupid.

[exocytosis]

I get this error message every time I try uploading a file:

Upload failed, please retry.

I guess that means the DPI is too low? I don't have a scanner at my current location, so I used a camera to take a (good) picture of my DL. I'll have to go to a public library to scan it tomorrow, unless there's some simple way to change the DPI on my pictures.

I would be very surprised if your guess is true.  Doing so would require the upload to be successful and some automate process to analyze the image.  My guess is that whatever server Gox is running to accept uploads has a full disk or something equally stupid.

Thanks. I might try a bit more before going to the library then. But they do, after all, clearly specify that they only want 300 DPI images, so it wouldn't surprise me if they have an automated process that analyzes the image.

[exocytosis]

I get this error message every time I try uploading a file:

Upload failed, please retry.

I guess that means the DPI is too low? I don't have a scanner at my current location, so I used a camera to take a (good) picture of my DL. I'll have to go to a public library to scan it tomorrow, unless there's some simple way to change the DPI on my pictures.

I would be very surprised if your guess is true.  Doing so would require the upload to be successful and some automate process to analyze the image.  My guess is that whatever server Gox is running to accept uploads has a full disk or something equally stupid.

I've tried several times now, and it still doesn't work. So I guess it really is the 300 DPI thing after all.