I'm not sure I get it. When you check into a hotel in nearly any foreign country, they generally will photocopy your passport, including the photo and ID number. I've often had to hand over my passport to people in banks, post offices, job interview situations, etc. while living overseas, and they would have had equal opportunity to quickly photocopy it as well. I don't think (and I may be naive) that any of these people are seeking to sell the info there, particularly not the photo (unless it's to modeling companies
).
You seem to be tilting at windmills, so to speak. Most likely they are not seeking to sell your info, but have simply decided, as companies will, that this is the security procedure they will follow, for no good reason other than that's what their security people came up with to prove they were worth the cost of hiring. In all likelihood, they are simply copying other sites' security practices.
Good luck, but I don't think this is a battle you are destined to make progress in, much less win.