When I wrote about the amount of photocopies made of IDs in Trinidad and Tobago, back in 2018, I failed to look forward because as most things in Trinidad and Tobago, we are so focused on the present which looks a lot like the past in other nations.

I’d considered writing a really long article about it, but instead, I’ll just do this off the cuff.

Here’s the thing. A lawyer called me this morning and wanted me to email him copies of 2 forms of ID so that he could help his client out with something, because in dealing with a government office, they would make copies of the ID to have on file because… because Trinidad and Tobago is displaced by about 20 years of bureaucracy. This bureaucracy only persists because of those who benefit from it.

In an age where Mark Lyndersay complains that Lensa thinks he should have hair, in the very same country, maybe sending digital copies of identification around could be considered a National Security issue. Or a banking fraud issue, since banks are one of the sore points for… well, everyone.

That it’s not criminal is only because it hasn’t been outlawed yet. It is, as we would say here, doltish.

It’s amazingly simple to do, particularly with the passing inspection identification cards get in the places that make copies of them. It wouldn’t be too hard to create an ID based on a template, a few images that could be done photorealistically by AI, and making sure it’s the right dimensions.

The bureaucracy can’t get out of it’s own way.