I was thinking more along the line of walking to your local Goverment office and validate your ID.
Many countries offer digital IDs to interact with them. And a (cumbersome vs digital but fast Vs traditional government processes) way of unlocking it. It would be just offering a email inbox linked to it.
In Spain we have an Inbox from the DMV for fines, one with the Tax authority, one with local government… these are messaging boards inboxes. The move to a single digital inbox could help streamline many government processes.
Yes, I agree. In fact I'm also Spanish and the solution felt as obvious as it would be in Spain. The reason I suggested the (US) passport analogy was to make it as relatable as possible to the American audience of HN :-)
In a similar way for instance that you would recover a lost, stolen, or accidentally destroyed US passport (but presumably cheaper).