1) Since there is Freedom of Movement and no border checks in the European Union, the only way to determine where someone is actually resident is if they regist

1) Since there is Freedom of Movement and no border checks in the European Union, the only way to determine where someone is actually resident is if they register it. Health Insurance is mandatory in Germany. I am would have thought an American health insurance provider would also want to know someone is actually resident in America before they signed them up. 2) Only for businesses. It seems pretty sensible to me that someone who is taking money in return for the future delivery of a product or service should have some legally watertight method of contact, and not just an e-mail address which might bounce, or a contact form. You also only have to identify the person who is willing to be the legal contact for the content, it doesn't have to be the actual owner/author. 3) As said by others, you only have to produce it later, not on the spot. In some countries the idea of a mandatory ID is anathema, but as I see it modern society is not really possible without proof of ID, and countries which insist on not issuing ID documents effectively end up with an poor unofficial substitute. In the US the driving license and SSN is effectively the mandatory form of ID, it just isn't very good at it since it wasn't designed to be one.